HIS  ROYAL 
HAPPINESS 


msEVERARD  COTES 

C      I      -**-<& 

JZAA-  Z (frnCaiu- 


ti  o 


HIS  ROYAL  HAPPINESS 


Hilary  Lanchester 


BY 

MRS.  EVERARD  COTES 

AUTHOR  OF  "THOSE  DELIGHTFUL  AMERICANS,' 
"THE  STORY  OF  SONNY  SAHIB,"  ETC. 


FRONTISPIECE 


NEW  YORK 

D.    APPLETON   AND    COMPANY 
1914 


COPYRIGHT,  1914,  BY 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1914,  by  The  Curtis  Publishing  Company 


To  THE  DEAR  MEMORY  OF 

M.  C. 
INDIA,  1899-1905 


2134789 


;<  /  am  the  land  of  their  fathers, 
In  me  the  virtue  stays. 

I  will  bring  back  my  children 
After  certain  days" 

KIPLING 


HIS  ROYAL  HAPPINESS 


CHAPTER   I 

HE'LL  be  here  in  a  little  over  an  hour  now," 
said  Mrs.  Phipps,  wife  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  putting  down  her  novel. 
"No — she's  a  delightful  writer,  but  it's  not  a  bit  of 
use.  I  can't  keep  my  mind  on  it.  James,  you  have 
not  changed  your  tie.  James — to  please  me !  You're 
never  at  your  best  in  a  brown  tie.  Though  whatever 
you  wear  you  always  look  America's  greatest  gen- 
tleman  " 

The  President  put  an  apologetic  hand  to  his  tie, 
and  gave  himself  a  general  corrective  shake. 

"Too  late,  my  dear;  I  have  a  deputation  before 
he  comes.  The  beggars  are  due  in  ten  minutes,  and 
I  shall  only  just  get  rid  of  them  in  time.  Did  Calder 
get  off  in  the  auto?" 

"Ages  ago.  He  and  Hilary  and  Freddy  Howard 
from  the  Embassy  nearly  drove  me  distracted  after 
lunch,  begging  for  more  cards  for  that  wild  dance  of 
theirs.  We  shall  be  suffocated  as  it  is.  I  think  Cap- 
tain Howard  was  a  little  disappointed  that  the  cav- 
alry weren't  sent  to  the  station  dear." 


"Very  likely,"  said  the  President,  with  his  hand 
on  the  door-handle.  "I  hope  you  put  the  responsi- 
bility where  it  belongs — on  the  State  Department. 
They  wouldn't  hear  of  an  escort  till  he  gets  to  his 
own  embassy.  Pakenham  drives  him  there,  with 
Howard  and  the  rest  in  a  second  auto,  and  then 
Calder  takes  him  over  and  brings  him  here  with  the 
troop  in  attendance.  Quite  enough  for  a  young  man 
out  of  employment." 

"Mercy,  yes,  I  know,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps.  "And 
perhaps  he  won't  mind — if  he  really  is  as  democratic 
as  they  say." 

"Quite  a  good  fellow  at  Oxford,  from  all  accounts. 
I  understand  his  friends  called  him  'Cakes.'  ' 

"  'Cakes!'  James,  what  a  shame!  I  wonder  it  was 
allowed." 

"Oh,  I  fancy  Oxford  is  a  law  unto  itself  in  such 
matters,"  the  President  told  her.  "And  he's  not 
bringing  much  of  a  suite.  An  equerry  and  a  valet!" 

"Yes,  I  know.  And  a  great  mercy,  too.  I  am 
sometimes  even  more  worried  about  Colonel  Vande- 
leur.  These  English-grown  Americans  are  so  critical." 

"The  Vandeleurs  have  been  born  in  England  for 
three  generations." 

"Yes,  I  know,  dear.  But  do  go  now,  James,  and 
get  rid  of  your  deputation.  Charlie  Calder  is  so 
feather-headed — I'm  just  praying  that  he  won't 
shake  hands  in  the  wrong  place  or  something." 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I've  told  him  he's  on  no  account  to  butt  in  before 
the  ambassador,"  replied  the  President.  "No  need  to 
worry — Charlie'll  get  delivery  of  the  prince  all  right 
at  the  proper  time.  Hilary  isn't  staying  to  help  you 
receive  him?" 

"No.  I  should  have  loved  her  to ;  but — Oh,  well, 
I  understand  perfectly,  James.  I  think  she  would 
feel  it,  just  a  little.  When  one  remembers  what  she 
was  to  her  father  in  this  house  for  three  long  years, 
and  practically  mistress  of  it  for  the  last  two — it 
would  be  hard  for  her.  And  who  is  to  know  whether 
'Miss  Hilary  Lanchester'  would  convey  any  idea  to 
His  Royal  Highness  whatever?" 

"She's  staying  over  for  the  dance,  of  course." 

"Of  course.  James — that  dance !  When  I  think 
of  the  good  old  simple  times  when  the  president  of 
the  United  States  was  not  expected  to  vie  with  the 
courts  of  Europe  in  entertaining,  I  could  just  sit  and 
cry.  The  very  most  that  would  have  been  expected 
of  the  Roosevelts  or  the  Tafts  would  have  been  a 
state  reception,  or  possibly  a  hop  of  forty  or  fifty 
couples  to  give  the  Prince  a  pleasant  evening.  But 
we  of  all  people  in  the  world — plain  people  like  us 
— have  got  to  be  elected  to  the  new  ballroom  and 
the  state  lancers,  and  the  extra  aides,  and  heaven 
knows  what  besides — and  all  the  world  looking  at 
us  to  see  that  we  do  it.  James,  we  are  simply  not  the 
people." 

3 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Maybe  not,"  said  Mr.  Phipps,  "but  I  have  a  sort 
of  feeling  that  we'll  do  as  well  as  anybody  else  in  the 
meantime.  Cheer  up,  little  woman.  They  might 
have  had  me  in  a  uniform,  and  you,  too,  for  all  I 
know.  It  was  a  close  call — a  mighty  close  call." 

"The  one  thing,"  his  wife  told  him,  "that  I 
wouldn't  have  had  the  least  objection  to.  Gold  braid 
an  inch  thick  is  what  I'd  just  adore  to  see  you  in, 
James." 

"Then  Hilary  is  coming  to  the  dance?" 

"Oh,  yes — she's  coming.  And  here  she  is,"  went 
on  Mrs.  Phipps,  as  a  door  opened  on  the  other  side 
of  the  room.  "James,  when  I  think  of  those  Col- 
orado men  and  the  time  they  will  take,  my  hair  goes 
three  shades  grayer.  Send  him  away,  Hilary.  He 
saw  you  at  lunch.  There's  no  excuse." 

They  laughed  at  one  another  understandingly,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the  daughter  of 
his  old  friend  and  predecessor  in  office ;  and  the  door 
closed  at  last  upon  Mr.  Phipps.  Miss  Lanchester 
came  into  the  pretty  room  towards  the  pretty  lady 
who  sat  with  such  dainty  dignity,  so  charmingly 
dressed,  beside  a  buhl  table  in  the  middle  of  it.  There 
was  a  silver  bowl  of  roses  on  the  table,  and  the  glass 
pendants  of  an  old-fashioned  chandelier  twinkled 
overhead.  It  was  an  agreeable  picture,  and  Mrs. 
Phipps,  with  her  delicately  lined  face  that  still  kept 
its  shell-pinkness,  and  that  air  of  constantly  dealing 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

with  small  decisions  of  importance  which  is  so  marked 
in  ladies  of  official  position,  gave  ever  so  pleasant  a 
key  to  it. 

"Well,  honey,  I  see  you've  got  your  hat  on.  But 
you  needn't  go  yet." 

Miss  Lanchester  smiled,  and  became  at  once,  for 
all  the  world  to  see,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  people 
in  it.  Until  she  smiled  she  seemed  a  tall  girl  of 
whom  you  would  say,  "How  lovely,"  and  pass  on, 
a  creature  of  perfect  grace  and  deep,  happy  eyes; 
but  the  flash  of  her  smile,  if  you  caught  it,  promptly 
turned  your  head  to  look  again.  Her  face  sim- 
ply was,  you  admitted  and  acclaimed  it,  among  the 
heaven-sent  things  in  a  world  not  too  often  re- 
membered by  any  other — the  American  papers  of 
her  father's  administration  had  not  said  a  word  too 
much.  Indeed,  it  was  doubtful  whether  they  had 
said  quite  enough.  Looking  back  through  the  files 
of  three  years  before — they  seldom  mentioned  her 
now — it  might  be  noted  that  the  newspapers  trum- 
peted her  far  more  as  the  single  solace  of  the  most 
successful  president  since  the  Civil  War — as  the 
daughter  of  the  man  who  had  taken  the  chief  magis- 
tracy from  a  mob  of  plutocrats,  and  held  it  for  a 
term  and  a  half  in  the  teeth  of  the  biggest  bosses  the 
civilized  world  had  yet  permitted  to  exist — as  the 
youngest  hostess  the  White  House  had  ever  known. 
Such  superlatives  appeared  to  be  her  highest  honor; 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

nobody  seemed  to  think  of  describing  her  at  the  same 
time  as  the  most  beautiful  girl  in  the  United  States, 
because,  no  doubt,  nobody  could  be  quite  sure  that 
she  was.  One  remembers  the  tribute  of  the  Wyom- 
ing Messenger  the  last  time  the  ex-President  toured 
in  the  west,  taking  her  with  him.  "Daughter  Hilary 
looks  as  good  to  us,  in  her  own  way,  as  Dada. 
Though  we're  not  asking  any  lady  to  believe  that 
we  can't  do  just  as  well  right  here  in  Wyoming." 

Mrs.  Phipps  did  not  think  they  could  do  as  well 
in  Wyoming  or  anywhere  else.  Mrs.  Phipps,  child- 
less and  loving,  gave  Hilary  the  palm  a  little  indis- 
criminately. I  mean  for  wit  as  well  as  for  beauty, 
for  culture  as  well  as  for  grace,  for  conversation  as 
well  as  for  golf,  for  example.  Hilary  had  the  humor 
and  gaiety  of  her  magnificent  health.  She  had  a 
sweet  nature  and  good  brains,  and  had  worked  in 
Paris  and  in  Brussels  creditably  enough  without  do- 
ing wonders.  She  talked — well,  it  will  appear  how 
she  talked.  Her  golf  was  certainly  unexceptionable. 

Miss  Lanchester  said  that  she  had  sent  for  a  taxi, 
and  that  she  was  due  in  Dupont  Circle  in  half  an 
hour.  Meantime  she  dropped  her  person,  like  a 
long-stemmed  rose,  in  a  corner  of  a  sofa. 

"It  just  worries  me  to  death,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps, 
"to  think  of  your  taking  a  taxi  from  this  house. 
But  literally  every  last  thing  with  a  wheel  to  it  has 
gone  to  the  station." 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  give  you  my  word  I  can  still  afford  a  taxi," 
laughed  Hilary.  "But  for  the  heat  and  the  smell 
of  the  asphalt,  and  the  crowd — the  Square  out  there 
is  packed  already — I  would  have  gone  by  the  Avenue 
car.  It's  quite  convenient.  Did  you  ever  know 
Washington  so  hot  in  June?  And  you,  poor  darling, 
with  three  entertainments  this  week." 

Mrs.  Phipps  sighed,  a  long,  gently  fatigued  sigh, 
and  waved  a  palm-leaf  fan  in  front  of  her  lace 
bosom.  She  tried  to  smile  her  sense  of  official  duty, 
but  only  her  lower  lip  expressed  resignation.  The 
upper  one  crowned  it  with  complacence. 

"Hot,  my  dear!  I  remember  only  one  June  like 
it.  We  were  living  in  Syracuse.  I  hadn't  been  long 
married,  and  I  was  making  strawberry  preserve  for 
the  first  time  in  my  life,  coming  as  I  did  from  a  home 
where  such  things  did  themselves.  What  a  lot  there 
is  in  smells,  Hilary.  This  morning  a  berry  on  the 
electric  heater  on  the  sideboard,  and  those  self-seal- 
ers were  all  with  me  again.  Partly  the  weather,  no 
doubt.  Well,  to  think  of  it!  The  wheel  of  time! 
Doing  up  my  own  fruit  in  a  back  kitchen  in  Syracuse, 
and  now  waiting  for  the  third  son  of  the  late  King 
of  England — I  did  so  admire  that  man — in  the 
White  House  in  my  country's  capital.  Luckily  I 
have  you,  Hilary.  You  are  a  link.  You  make  it 
more  human." 

"I've  just  heard,"  said  Hilary,  "the  most  lovely 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

story  about  him.  He  really  does  like  us,  Mumsie. 
He  specially  asked  that  his  commission  should  be  in 
their  Imperial  Rifles,  why  do  you  think?  Because  it 
was  once  the  Royal  Americans,  and  was  fighting  for 
the  king  somewhere  in  Europe  when  the  Revolution 
broke  out  over  here — and  went  on  fighting  for  him. 
And  wears  to  this  day  the  green  that  came  out  of  our 
forests.  And  it's  a  true  story,  because  Commission- 
er Longworth  told  me,  who  had  an  ancestor  in 
that  regiment.  Young  Longworth,  you  know,  has 
been  taking  a  post-graduate  course  at  Oxford, 
and  the  Prince  made  friends  with  him  because, 
he  said,  he  was  a  fellow-officer  of  his  great-great- 
grand-dad's!  I  think  he  must  be  rather  a  duck, 
Mumsie." 

"Now  isn't  that  a  sweet  story!  And  the  Presi- 
dent tells  me  they  called  him  'Burnt  Cakes' — no,  just 
'Cakes' — at  Oxford.  I'm  sure  he's  quite  human. 
But  there's  something  about  royalty — one  despises 
oneself,  but  there  is,  Hil.  Something  alarming.  I 
don't  know  why  it  should  be  so." 

"The  Blue  Room,"  said  Hilary,  "is  looking  its 
very  best.  I  just  poked  my  nose  in.  I  like  the  new 
coverings  immensely." 

"The  President  and  I  are  to  receive  him  there. 
Then  I  suppose  Major  Calder  will  show  him  his 
rooms.  He'll  want  to  wash  his  hands  after  the  train. 
Perhaps,  being  a  prince,  he'll  require  a  bath — though 

8 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

it's  only  four  hours  from  New  York,  and  he  must 
have  had  one  this  morning " 

"He  will  call  it  a  tub,"  said  Hilary.  "Our  Eng- 
lish guests  always  talked  about  their  tubs — and  with 
an  openness.  They  don't  seem  to  mind.  Bath  is  a 
sort  of  vague  expression,  but  tub — well,  tub  is  plain, 
isn't  it?" 

"They  are  plain,  the  British.  Well,  we're  giving 
him  half  an  hour  for  his  ablutions,  whatever  he  calls 
them.  I  hope  that  will  be  enough  to  get  the  dust 
of  the  Republic  off  him.  Then  we  serve  tea  in  the 
large  drawing-room,  and  I  wish  we  had  decided  on 
having  it  here,  for  I'm  never  at  my  best  in  that  room 
in  the  daytime;  and  I  don't  suppose  we  shall  have 
him  for  another  moment  so  much  to  ourselves.  First 
impressions  go  so  far.  But  I  insisted  on  making  the 
tea.  A  state  teapot  it  may  be,  but  I  handle  it." 

"Darling,  it's  an  anxious  task;  but  the  taxi  must 
be  there,"  observed  Hilary. 

"Oh,  no — they'll  tell  you.  Very  likely  they've  had 
to  telephone — there  were  none  on  the  rank  this  morn- 
ing. And,  Oh,  my  dear — talk  of  fatigue — what  do 
you  think?  He  insists  on  coming  down  to  breakfast ! 
Which  means,  I  suppose,  that  I  must  and  will,  though 
the  President  forbids  it." 

"Well,"  said  Hilary,  "I  wouldn't  mar  my  mar- 
ried life  for  him  if  he  were  the  heir  to  the  throne, 
which  he  isn't." 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Oh,  yes,  you  would,  dear,  if  it  were  a  case  of 
doing  the  proper  thing  or  not  doing  it.  I  won't  have 
him  writing  home  to  Queen  Alma  Patricia  that  the 
hostess  of  the  White  House  spends  most  of  her  time 
in  bed.  I'll  struggle  down." 

"They  say  he  isn't  strong  himself,"  said  Hilary. 
"I  should  make  him  breakfast  in  his  room,  if  I 
were  you." 

"Anything  but!  Very  anxious,  people  about  him 
have  always  been.  And  apparently  one  can't  'make' 
him  do  anything  whatever.  Oh,  dear,"  sighed  Mrs. 
Phipps,  "I  confess  I  sometimes  wish  he  were  here 
and  away  again." 

"I  suppose  you've  got  some  idea  of  his  habits 
from  the  Embassy.  I  remember  we  heard  privately, 
when  the  Russian  Crown  Prince  came." 

"We  inquired,  naturally.  Apparently,  he  doesn't 
wish  to  be  indulged  in  any  way.  That's  why  he's  so 
firm  about  breakfast.  If  he  only  knew !  Wishes  to 
conform  to  the  ways  of  the  family  in  every  respect, 
Sir  Arthur  said.  I  wonder  if  he'd  enjoy  my  raw 
fruit  luncheon.  It's  doing  me  such  a  world  of  good, 
Hilary!  Hilary — tell  me — what  relation  exactly  is 
your  godmother  to  this  young  man?" 

"Aunt!"  said  Miss  Lanchester,  with  an  eye  that 
brightened  in  spite  of  itself. 

"I  thought  so.  Aunt!  I  wish  I  were  aunt  to  his 
godmother.  I  mean  I  wish  his  godmother  were  my 

10 


HTS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

aunt — it  would  be  something  to  talk  about.  I  envy 
you,  Hilary.  And  you  can  say  quite  naturally,  'How 
is  my  godmother?'  when  it  would  be  liberty  to  say, 
'How  is  your  aunt?'  She  is  your  godmother,  all 
right,  all  right.  You  have  that  much  definite  prop- 
erty in  the  Family.  And  how  exactly  did  it  happen? 
Recount  me  the  tale,  because  I  don't  mind  telling 
you,  dear,  I'm  relying  on  it  myself.  When  conver- 
sation absolutely  fails,  I  can  say,  'We  have  here  a 
young  person  who  is  goddaughter  to  your  aunt, 
Georgina,  Duchess  of  Altenburg.' ' 

"She  wasn't  the  Duchess  of  Altenburg  then," 
laughed  Hilary.  "She  was  Princess  Georgina,  the 
late  King  John's  eldest  sister,  and  she  was  over  here 
with  her  uncle,  who  was  governor-general  of  Can- 
ada, and  they  were  staying  with  my  uncle,  Ralph 
Russell  in  New  York,  and  so  was  I,  being  at  that  time 
three  weeks  old  and  half  an  orphan.  My  uncle,  you 
know,  had  been  ambassador  over  there." 

"Indeed  I  do.  The  loveliest  man  and  greatest 
master  of  American  prose  of  his  generation.  Are  we 
likely  to  forget  him?  Go  on,  chicken.  The  Princess 
cooed  over  you  in  your  poor  little  cradle,  and " 

"That's  as  much  as  I  remember.  But  there  was 
a  private  christening,  and  I've  always  been  told  she 
held  me,  and  that  my  behavior  was  beautiful." 

"And  you've  got  your  silver  mug.  I'm  sure  I've 
heard  a  silver  mug  mentioned." 

ii 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"Father's  got  it.  He  considers  it  his  trophy — 
I'm  sure  I  don't  know  why.  That  taxi  is  running  into 
dollars;  but  before  I  go  I  must  tell  you — there's  an 
immense  discussion " 

Mrs.  Phipps  dropped  her  fan.  "About  what  in 
the  world  now?  I  thought  we  had  settled  every- 
thing, Hilary.  I  can't  reopen " 

"Nothing  like  that.  But  not  a  living  girl  in 
Washington  except  me  seems  to  know — whether  she 
wants  to  curtsey  to  him  or  not." 

"What  utter  nonsense!  We  Americans  don't 
curtsey,  and  never  did." 

"Oh,  yes,  mumsie,  once  we  did.  To  our  own  gov- 
ernors, in  the  streets  of  New  York." 

"Well,  all  I  can  say  is  we've  learned  better.  What 
utter  nonsense !" 

"I  don't  know — it's  a  pretty  custom.  They  used 
to  make  us  do  it  at  Mademoiselle's  in  Brussels.  And 
I  always  feel  like  curtseying  to  the  President.  But 
that's  because  I  love  him." 

"Then  you  think  it  ought  to  be  done.  You  want 
to  do  it." 

"No,  indeed!  I'm  the  only  one  who  is  quite  sure 
she  won't.  Margery  Passmore,  and  Betty  Chase, 
and  the  Carroll  girls,  who  have  been  presented  in 
England,  are  at  the  bottom  of  what  I  call  a  per- 
fectly ridiculous  fuss.  Kate  Carroll  says  the  Queen 
curtseys  to  King  John  every  time  she  leaves  the  table, 

12 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

and  that  all  royalties  expect  it,  and  that  she  isn't 
going  to  be  guilty  of  any  rudeness.  But  I  say  with 
you,  darling,  what  is  that  to  us?" 

"If  Prince  Alfred  expects  it,"  began  Mrs.  Phipps 
firmly,  "he  will  just " 

A  sound  struck  through  to  them  from  the  world 
outside,  a  sound  of  cheering,  a  sound  that  grew 
louder  and  louder. 

"Hilary — it's  the  Prince!  He's  before  his  time! 
Ring !  Send  for  the  President.  Quick !  Oh,  where 
is  James?  I  will  not  appear  in  the  Blue  Room  alone. 
No,  don't  go.  Wait  till  James  comes,  ducky " 

But  the  President  in  his  library  was  still  besieged 
by  the  deputation  from  Colorado,  to  whom  the  ear 
of  the  chief  executive  was  of  more  importance  than 
the  whole  of  any  imperial  person  on  earth.  Arrival 
by  automobile  is  also  a  very  rapid  process,  and  no 
doubt  Major  Calder,  A.D.C.,  was  a  little  flurried 
at  finding  the  Blue  Room  empty.  At  all  events,  a 
moment  later  the  door  of  Mrs.  Phipps's  private 
drawing-room  opened  to  admit,  not  the  President, 
but  a  group  of  heated-looking  young  men,  one  of 
whom  stood  half  a  head  taller  than  the  rest,  and  was 
smiling,  eagerly,  delightfully 

And  there  was  Mrs.  Phipps,  all  alone  but  for 
Hilary,  giving  the  most  charming  American  welcome 
imaginable  to  Prince  Alfred  of  England,  and  present- 
ing Hilary.  And  there  was  Hilary — who  curtsied! 

13 


CHAPTER    II 

AT  the  moment  of  Prince  Alfred's  arrival  at 
the  White  House,  his  aunt,  Princess  Geor- 
gina,  Duchess  of  Altenburg,  was  sitting  with 
her  lady-in-waiting  under  an  elm  in  a  delightful  cor- 
ner of  the  gardens  of  Kensington  Palace,  talking  of 
the  visit  of  a  European  potentate  to  London. 
Ching,  who  was  a  Pekinese,  was  sitting  there,  too. 
Princess  Georgina  was  the  only  surviving  sister  of 
the  late  King.  A  widow  and  childless,  she  had  been 
plainly  meant  by  heaven  to  be  all  in  all  to  his  three 
motherless  boys,  John,  Victor,  and  Alfred.  How 
she  had  fulfilled  this  duty  the  press  amply  testified; 
it  was  one  of  England's  idylls.  Report  made  her 
more  responsible  than  any  other  person  for  the  mar- 
riage of  the  young  Prince  John  just  before  he  as- 
cended the  throne,  which  promised,  heaven  always 
helping,  so  happily.  Among  her  intimates,  her  great 
present  anxiety  was  understood  to  be  "Victor's 
affair";  but  with  an  influence  so  responsible  she  was 
naturally  never  without  an  anxiety  of  some  sort. 
Grave  considerations,  not  always  to  be  mentioned, 

14 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

lurked  constantly  behind  her  smile,  which  was  other- 
wise cordial;  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  her  shapely 
white  fingers  held  with  every  sagacity  many  strings. 

It  was  very  sweet  and  quiet  there  in  the  garden. 
The  Princess  was  knitting.  Her  companion,  Lady 
Althea  Dawe,  was  crocheting  a  purple  silk  necktie 
for  a  brother  who  was  fighting  the  Af ridis  elsewhere. 
He  would  wear  it  when  he  came  home. 

"Do  listen,  Princess,  to  that  darling  dove,"  said 
Lady  Althea. 

"Sweet  thing — here  in  the  heart  of  London! 
How  our  Heavenly  Father  blesses  us,  when  all  is 
said  and  done.  Socialism  may  be  coming  and  capital 
may  be  going,  but  we  have  always  the  doves,  Althea ; 
let  us  remember  that." 

The  bird  flew  to  another  branch,  and  the  eyes  of 
the  two  ladies  followed  it  with  affection.  Ching, 
too,  looked  up. 

"Sweetheart,"  commented  the  Princess,  "Althea, 
feel  his  nose.  But  as  to  our  visitors.  Whatever  hap- 
pens, dear,  I  do  not  wish  too  much  contact  with  Him 
at  the  garden  party  this  afternoon.  Last  night  at 
dinner  was  enough.  Nothing  but  explanations  of 
how  absurd  and  ridiculous  and  impossible  it  was  that 
the  two  nations  should  ever  go  to  war.  One  could 
only  agree,  though  all  the  time  longing  to  say,  'I 
don't  at  all  think  so,'  as  one  saw  quite  plainly  that 
he  didn't.  Really,  he  put  me  out  of  temper.  So 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

patronizing.  Her,  if  you  like.  But  if  you  see  me 
involved  with  Him,  come  up  to  us  with  a  message." 

"He  seems  to  me,"  said  Lady  Althea  boldly,  "a 
domineering  young  man." 

"Was  there  ever  a  member  of  that  Family  who 
wasn't?  Words  cannot  express  how  thankful  I  am 
that  our  young  people  are  so  very  different.  Which 
reminds  me,  love — you  must  help  me  to  contrive  two 
words  with  Count  Wettersee  to-day." 

"The  one  with  the  bald  head  and  curly  hair  round 
it — the  almost  good-looking  one?"  said  Althea. 
"Oh,  yes." 

"Victor's  affair  seems  almost,  under  the  guidance 
of  Providence,  happily  settled."  Princess  Georgina 
again  put  down  her  knitting.  "They  are  to  meet 
in  July.  And  I  hope  I  shall  like  her  better  than  I 
like  most  Russians.  But  there  is  always  Alfie." 

"Dear  Prince  Alfred,"  said  Lady  Althea,  with 
suspended  needles.  "Yes,  indeed.  But  isn't  it  early 
days?" 

"It  is.  Still,  one  must  be  thinking.  You  know 
what  was  nearest  my  heart  for  John  once — too 
young  then,  I  admitted,  and,  of  course,  when  he 
actually  fell  in  love  in  another  quarter,  what  was 
there  to  say  or  do  except  smooth  away  all  difficulties? 
But  she  remains.  Older  now.  In  many  ways  im- 
proved." 

Lady  Althea's  ball  of  silk  rolled  upon  the  ground, 

16 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

and  Ching  twitched  an  ear  after  it.  Lady  Althea 
arrested  her  movement  to  pick  it  up. 

"The  Archduchess  Sophia  Ludovica !"  she  ex- 
claimed. 

"Sh — sh,  my  love!  How  do  you  know  there  is 
not  a  reporter  behind  that  bush?  Let  us  refer  to 
her  as  'S.L.'  All  the  reasons,  my  dear  Althea,  which 
I  urged  in  favor  of  S.L.  with  reference  to  my  eldest 
nephew  hold  equally  well  in  connection  with  my 
youngest." 

"I  suppose  they  do,"  murmured  Lady  Althea. 

"Of  course,  she  being  at  that  time  only  sixteen — 
I  meant  John  to  wait  at  least  two  years,  poor  dear 
— nobody  was  actually  sounded.  There  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe,  however,  that  such  an  arrangement 
would  be  gladly  welcomed.  Heinrich  has  more 
nieces  than  he  knows  what  to  do  with." 

"I  should  think  so  indeed,"  said  Lady  Althea. 

"You  know  very  little  about  it,"  the  Princess  went 
on  absently.  "Still,  I  wish  it  could  be  as  easily  taken 
for  granted,"  she  continued,  "that  things  will  be 
smooth  on  this  side  of  the  North  Sea.  I  often  feel 
that  one  couldn't  wholly  count  on  my  nephew  in  a 
matter  of  this  kind.  I'm  afraid  he  cares  very  little 
about  women — a  good  thing,  of  course,  in  some 
ways.  I  know  you  will  respect  my  confidence,  Althea 
— Alfred  is  not  my  favorite  nephew.  In  a  sense  all 
are  dear,  but  in  that  boy  I  always  mistrust  a  hidden 

17 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS    

obstinacy,  a  determination  to  take  his  own  line,  that 
is  almost — shall  I  say  middle  class?" 

The  Princess  knitted  with  the  firmness  she  would 
display  toward  anything  of  the  kind. 

"However,"  she  continued,  "I  don't  know  why 
we  should  go  to  meet  trouble.  Yes,  I  must  have  a 
word  with  that  old  man.  These  things  cannot  be 
thought  about  too  soon.  And  I  should  like  to  pour 
in  just  a  drop  of  oil  about  Alfie's  American  visit.  In 
the  present  state  of  feeling  between  the  two  coun- 
tries they  won't  like  him  any  better  for  going  there 
— us  either  for  sending  him.  They  must  be  made  to 
understand  how  absolutely  non-political  the  visit  is, 
in  every  sense  of  the  term.  I  shall  sum  it  up  in  two 
words — 'magneto-electrics.'  Alfred's  passion  for 
such  things  must  have  reached  their  ears.  Magneto- 
electrics  must  explain  everything." 

"What  a  good  idea,"  said  Lady  Althea. 

"And  health,  of  course.  After  the  terrible  strain 
of  those  foolish  Oxford  examinations.  Very  modern 
and  very  regrettable,  I  shall  always  consider  that 
idea  of  Honours  schools.  So  unnecessary.  I  ask  you, 
at  the  worst,  is  he  likely  ever  to  earn  his  living  as  a 
schoolmaster?" 

"Oh,  but,"  deprecated  Lady  Althea,  "one  felt  so 
proud  of  him!  And,  as  all  the  papers  said,  think 
of  the  example." 

"I  admit  the  example — if  it  was  really  needed. 

18 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

But  was  it?  No,  Althea.  No.  Not  at  such  a  cost. 
And  the  friendships — the  intimate  friendships  he 
was  allowed  to  contract  there.  Rhodes  scholars,  and 
such  persons.  Very  well  and  very  worthy,  no  doubt, 
but  hardly  quite — suitable,  shall  we  say?  A  young 
man  named  Youghall,  a  Canadian,  I  believe,  quite  a 
bosom  companion — well,  you  know,  Althea,  I  may 
be  old-fashioned  in  my  ideas,  but  I  cannot " 

"I  know,  dearest." 

"Nor  do  I  altogether  approve — for  Alfred — of 
this  tour.  He  is  altogether  too  American  in  many 
of  his  ideas  already.  And  the  mind  at  his  age  is  so 
plastic.  Wiser  to  wait — much  wiser  to  wait.  But 
who  listens  to  an  old  woman  like  me  nowadays?  Go 
he  must,  and  go  he  did,  a  week  ago  last  Wednesday. 
I  said  all  I  could." 

"Everybody  listens  to  you,  darling,"  said  Lady 
Althea. 

"There  is  just  one  thing  against  S.L.,"  meditated 
Princess  Georgina,  knitting  faster  than  ever.  "Her 
being  sent,  in  that  promiscuous  fashion,  to  a  board- 
ing-school. I  always  remember  that  foolish  idea  of 
her  mother's.  I  wonder  He  allowed  it,  knowing 
what  her  future  almost  must  be.  However,  I  know 
her  to  be  a  good  girl.  Not  too  pretty,  I  confess, 
unless  she  has  changed  of  late,  but  with  a  sound,  do- 
mestic training  and  all  the  true  old  ideas  about  what 
a  woman  should  do  and  be.  Yes,  it  would  be  ideal. 

19 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

I  said  just  one  word  to  that  excellent  fellow  Vande- 
leur  who  has  gone  with  Alfred." 

"A  charming  man,"  sighed  Lady  Althea.  "Such 
a  good  appointment,  and  all  owing  to  you,  dearest." 

"I  think  so.  I  think  so.  There  is  no  democratic 
nonsense  about  him,  at  all  events.  And  it  was  by 
no  means  so  easy  to  find  the  right  person  in  that  re- 
spect, Althea,  as  you  might  suppose." 

"No,  indeed.  You  yourself  have  been  in  Amer- 
ica, have  you  not,  Princess?"  said  Lady  Althea. 

"Dear  me — what  memories  you  evoke.  Yes,  I 
have.  Twenty  years  ago — or  is  it  twenty-one?  A 
slip  of  a  girl  I  was,  staying  with  my  Uncle  William 
in  Ottawa.  We  went  across  to  New  York  for  some 
junketing,  and  put  up  with — now  what  was  his 
name?  A  former  ambassador  to  us  here.  No,  it's 
gone.  But  I  remember  what  pains  we  took  to  be 
civil,  and  how  I  enjoyed  it  all.  America  is  enjoyable, 
you  know,  when  you  are  young.  It  would  upset  me 
now.  But  here's  Flack,"  broke  off  the  Princess,  roll- 
ing up  her  work,  as  an  elderly  person  with  an  im- 
portant air  appeared,  and  began  to  waddle  toward 
them.  "Mistress  Flack,  come  to  tell  me  it  is  nearly 
two  o'clock,  and  time  for  me  to  wash  my  hands  for 
luncheon."  With  which,  followed  by  Flack  who 
gathered  Ching  in  her  arms,  the  ladies  disappeared 
within  the  nearest  door  of  the  palace. 

Colonel  Vandeleur,    C.B.,    had  been  selected   to 

20 


HTS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

accompany  Prince  Alfred  partly  because  the  King 
immensely  liked  him,  partly  on  account  of  his  com- 
parative youth  and  positive  spirits,  and  partly  again 
because  of  his  American  descent,  which  would  do 
much,  it  was  thought,  to  put  the  Prince  in  touch  with 
what  he  might  otherwise  fail  to  understand,  and  thus 
help  him  indirectly  to  make  himself  pleasant  to  his 
hosts.  The  Vandeleurs  had  returned  to  England 
about  the  same  time  as  the  Astors,  and  apparently 
for  much  the  same  reasons;  but  the  serious  attrac- 
tions of  public  duty  in  their  readopted  country  had 
passed  them  by.  They  had  been  content  to  arrive 
and  remain  smart,  wealthy  people,  assuming  only  the 
lighter  responsibilities  that  attach  to  their  class. 
Two  of  the  later  Vandeleurs  had  been  masters  of 
hounds  of  an  historic  hunt.  One  had  raised  and 
commanded  a  yeomanry  regiment  in  Sussex,  one  had 
served  on  the  staff  of  a  viceroy  of  India;  and  this 
Colonel  Adrian  Vandeleur,  of  the  7th  Home  Guards, 
remaining  a  bachelor  and  ripening  happily  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions,  was  probably  the  finest, 
roundest,  best  flavored  fruit  on  the  tree.  Such  an 
appointment  as  this  with  Prince  Alfred  would  have 
been  impossible  a  generation  earlier.  Even  a  gen- 
eration earlier  it  would  have  been  too  quick  a  return 
to  republican  shores  in  circumstances  so  conspicuous, 
bearing  a  king's  commission,  and  wearing  his  blue 
ribbon  of  the  Bath.  But  once  again  the  political  in- 

21 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

stinct  of  the  royal  house  had  perfectly  asserted  itself 
as  to  time,  place,  and  susceptibilities;  the  moment 
shone  bright  and  right;  the  great  American  nation 
accepted  a  compliment,  and  slapped  Colonel  Adrian 
Vandeleur  on  the  back  not  without  a  certain  pride. 
The  dinner  that  first  night  at  the  White  House 
had  been  of  the  quietest,  nobody  being  present  ex- 
cept the  Staff,  the  President,  and  Mrs.  Phipps. 
Vandy  had  been  splendid,  playing  up  to  the  Presi- 
dent, who  twinkled  with  humor  at  being  played  up 
to,  and  said  things  that  seemed  to  Prince  Alfred  of 
quite  unapproachable  originality.  The  President's 
humor  was  of  a  slow,  rich,  dignified  and  unconquer- 
able gravity,  which  was  the  first  genuinely  demo- 
cratic product  the  young  Englishman  had  encoun- 
tered. Nobody  in  his  own  country  had  ever  met 
him  in  quite  that  conversational  spirit,  and  after  the 
first  moment  of  his  immersion,  when  he  blinked  a 
little  in  the  new  element,  he  took  to  it  cordially  and 
with  the  happiest  confidence.  The  President  was  a 
capital  fellow  to  begin  with,  if  one  wanted  to  like 
the  Americans,  especially  at  his  own  dinner  table; 
and  Prince  Alfred's  desire  to  like  the  Americans 
amounted  to  a  romance.  Mrs.  Phipps,  sitting  beside 
him,  felt  her  heart  warm  toward  her  young  guest. 
She  watched  him  through  the  evening  with  a  moved 
expression ;  but  she  did  not  become  actually  motherly 
until  next  morning  at  breakfast,  in  which  bacon  and 

22 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

marmalade  figured  so  impressively  as  to  make  a  hu- 
morous reference  unavoidable.  Mrs.  Phipps  then 
learned  what  the  Prince  was  really  dying  for,  and 
her  opportunity  rolled  out  before  her,  from  buck- 
wheat cakes  indefinitely.  Nothing  could  be  too  na- 
tional for  Prince  Alfred's  enterprise  or  too  forgotten 
for  Mrs.  Phipps's  good  will.  She  promised  all 
things,  in  the  assurance  that  what  the  chef  had.  never 
heard  of  a  certain  old  Sally  of  the  household,  as  black 
as  your  hat,  would  know  like  her  apron  string.  By 
the  time  hot  waffles  had  been  boldly  preferred  to 
cold  toast,  and  the  marmalade  had  retired  before  the 
glittering  jug  of  maple  syrup,  the  bond  between 
Prince  Alfred  and  Mrs.  Phipps  was  complete. 

"Now,  Prince,"  said  the  President  in  his  library, 
removing  a  particularly  fragrant  cigar  to  say  it,  "we 
want  to  give  you  the  very  best  time  we  can.  To 
begin  with,  you  might  take  a  more  comfortable  chair 
than  that — I  don't  know  how  you  came  to  select 
that  chair.  It's  the  one  I  keep  for  the  heads  of  depu- 
tations. If  anything  under  a  man  could  make  his 
words  brief  and  his  stay  short,  that's  the  article  of 
furniture.  But  some  fellows  would  enjoy  themselves 
on  a  rack.  Try  this,"  and,  with  one  friendly  hand, 
he  pushed  a  big  armchair  into  more  conversational 
relation  with  his  own. 

Prince  Alfred  dropped  into  it,  but  did  not  yield 
himself  to  the  deep  embrace.  He  sat  upright  and 

23 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

square-shouldered,  pulling  a  little  fast  and  nervously 
at  his  cigarette,  vividly  attentive. 

"It's  awfully  good  of  you,  Mr.  President,"  he 
said.  "I  hope  you  realize  that  just  being  here  is  very 
interesting  to  me." 

"We  must  make  it  so — it's  up  to  us  to  make  it 
so,"  said  Mr.  Phipps  pleasantly,  with  a  gesture  of 
acknowledgment  too  brief  for  a  bow,  too  serious  for 
a  nod,  that  sent  his  lower  chin  further  still  into  his 
collar.  "I've  talked  it  over  with  your  Embassy,  and 
one  or  two  fellows  of  our  State  Department,  and 
we've  run  up  a  sort  of  programme.  But  it's  quite 
provisional — nothing  in  it  made  of  reinforced  con- 
crete at  all " 

"You  use  a  lot  of  that,  don't  you?"  said  Prince 
Alfred.  "More  than  any  country  in  the  world.  I 
saw  the  figures  the  other  day.  You  invented  it,  too, 
I  believe?" 

"Did  we?  I  had  an  idea  it  was  French.  But 
you  may  be  right  about  that." 

"Are  there  any  mills  in  Washington?  I've  seen 
the  process  at  home,  and  I'd  like  to  compare  it." 

"Well,  nothing  very  great.  You  see,  this  city  has 
never  made  any  sort  of  claim  to  industrial  impor- 
tance, Prince — we'll  show  you  all  that  out  West. 
You  would  like  a  look  at  our  Smithsonian  Institute,  I 
presume.  I've  had  the  curator  notified  to  have  it 
swept,  anyhow " 

24 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Is  it  an  art  gallery?"  asked  Prince  Alfred,  with 
a  slightly  fallen  expression. 

"No.  No — I  sympathize  with  you.  I've  been 
dragged  around  Europe.  No,  it  isn't.  It's  relics, 
chiefly — relics  of  great  Americans.  The  clothes  of 
Washington,  the  bones  of  the  mastodon " 

"It  sounds  most  interesting.  I've  been  working 
lately  at  our  last  revolutionary  period " 

"Cromwell?"  said  Mr.  Phipps. 

"No — Washington,"  smiled  Prince  Alfred,  and 
his  host,  having  nothing  quite  ready,  made  him  an- 
other bow  of  acknowledgment. 

"Yes,"  he  remembered,  just  in  time,  "and  with 
considerable  credit,  too." 

"Oh,  precious  little.  I  had  the  best  historical 
coach  in  England,  and  I  only  just  pulled  it  off." 

"I  know  what  Oxford  honors  are.  Your  First  was 
an  achievement,  Prince  Alfred,  to  be  proud  of. 
Were  any  of  our  fellows  up?" 

"Two  chaps,  I  think.  Burroughs  of  Texas,  and 
a  fellow  from  New  Hampshire." 

"Either  of  them  do  anything?" 

"I  believe  Burroughs  got  a  second.  The  best 
Americans  seemed  to  prefer  other  schools  this  year," 
Prince  Alfred  told  him,  coloring  a  little. 

"So  you  -beat  us  on  our  own  ground,"  retrieved 
the  President,  touching,  with  a  luxurious  little  finger, 
an  inch  and  half  of  cigar  ash  into  a  tray. 

25 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"It's  surprising,"  his  guest  returned  lightly,  "when 
you  look  into  it,  how  many  of  the  decisive  scenes 
were  enacted  at  Westminster.  However,  I've  tried 
as  best  I  could  to  get  hold  of  the  experiment,  and 
now  I'm  above  all  things  anxious  to  see  the  result. 
Where  shall  I  find  it  best  and  fullest,  Mr.  President? 
In  Congress?" 

"There's  Mount  Vernon,"  went  on  the  President, 
eyeing  him  thoughtfully.  "The  home  of  the  first 
man  who  held  my  office.  Down  the  river.  Most 
people  want  to  see  that.  We  have  also,  at  Arling- 
ton, a  very  beautiful  cemetery,  where  lie  many  of 
the  heroes  of  our  Civil  War. 

'On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground 
Their  silent  tents  are  spread.' 

No  doubt  you've  heard  of  it." 

"No,"  said  Prince  Alfred  honestly.  "I'm  afraid 
I  hadn't.  Those  are  fine  lines."  His  face  assumed 
a  serious  aspect.  "I  should  like  very  much  to  see 
the  cemetery,"  he  said. 

The  President  laughed,  with  enjoyment,  the  laugh 
that  need  no  longer  be  contained. 

"But  that  was  not  your  primary  object  in  looking 
us  up,  Prince,"  he  said.  "You  can  give  us  points  on 
cemeteries,  I  admit,  in  almost  any  part  of  Europe. 
Well,  our  talk-shop  is  open  to  you.  We've  no  dis- 
tinguished strangers'  gallery,  I'm  afraid,  but  there's 

26 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  Diplomatic  box  and  the  Senators'  gallery,  which 
answer  the  same  purpose  in  both  the  House  and  the 
Senate;  and  our  Speaker  will  be  gratified  to  meet  you 
on  his  own  preserves  any  time  Congress  is  in  session. 
I  presented  him  yesterday  afternoon — Mr.  Briscoe. 
Bit  of  a  Tartar,  Briscoe.  It  was  owing  to  him  that 
the  last  spittoon  disappeared  some  time  back  from 
the  corridors,  amid  bitter  opposition  from  the  West. 
I  hope  you  won't  be  too  disappointed  to  find  no 
spittoons." 

"I  never  could  understand  the  objection  to  them," 
replied  Prince  Alfred.  "If  people  must  spit." 

"Briscoe  didn't  seem  to  think  them  nice,"  said 
Mr.  Phipps  gravely,  "and  he  had  a  considerable  fol- 
lowing. However,  you  may  be  right."  He  touched 
a  bell.  "Just  ask  Mr.  Austin,"  he  said  to  the  boy 
who  appeared,  "to  come  here." 

The  strong-featured  and  sedate-looking  man  who 
appeared  was  duly  presented.  He  gave  Prince  Al- 
fred over  his  spectacles  a  deferential  glance,  that 
nevertheless  compared  him  with  the  value  of  the  time 
he  was  taking  up. 

"What,  in  your  opinion,  Austin,  is  the  first  occa- 
sion on  which  the  House  will  be  doing  itself  credit?" 
asked  the  President. 

Mr.  Austin  smiled. 

"It  depends,  sir,  on  what  you  call  credit,"  he  said. 
"But  there's  likely  to  be  a  pretty  considerable  dis- 

27 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

play  of  talent  this  afternoon  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
Defences  Bill." 

"Rather  soon  and  rather  dull,"  demurred  Mr. 
Phipps,  looking  at  Prince  Alfred. 

"Not  a  bit  too  soon — for  me — and  of  the  great- 
est interest,"  responded  that  young  man,  throwing 
his  cigarette  into  the  fireplace  with  a  gesture  that 
announced  him  ready  to  start  at  any  moment. 

"All  right,"  said  the  President.  "Send  Calder 
here,  Austin,  and  get  somebody  to  telephone  the  city 
papers,  and  the  Associated.  We  told  them  the 
Smithsonian,  Queen  Victoria's  statue,  and  the  Pen- 
sion Bureau,  subject  to  change.  We  couldn't  pos- 
sibly know  that  His  Royal  Highness  would  have 
such  a  strong  preference  for  the  contemporary." 

"I  hope — "  began  the  Prince. 

"Quite  right,"  agreed  the  President.  "I'm  built 
that  way  myself." 


CHAPTER    III 

PRINCE,  I  want  to  have  you  meet  at  the  dance 
to-night,"  said  President  Phipps  at  the  break- 
fast table,  "the  loveliest  girl  in  the  United 
States  of  America." 

The  President  covered  a  neat  mound  of  griddle- 
cakes  with  maple  syrup,  clipped  the  silver  jug  on  the 
last  drop,  and  looked  round  the  table  in  a  manner 
which  challenged  contradiction.  It  came  promptly 
from  an  accredited  source. 

"James,  you  are  perfectly  ridiculous  about  that 
child.  Probably  His  Highness  won't  think  so  at  all. 
And,  besides,  he  has  met  her." 

"I  mean  Hilary,"  said  Mr.  Phipps,  with  a  slightly 
daunted  eye,  at  which  a  laugh  went  round  the  table, 
much  enjoyed  by  the  aides-de-camp. 

"Of  course,  you  mean  Hilary,"  Mrs.  Phipps  re- 
torted. "Who  would  dream  that  you  meant  anybody 
else,  you  poor,  infatuated  person !  Prince  Alfred  met 
Hilary  the  day  of  his  arrival — the  moment  of  his  ar- 
rival !  When  you  weren't  there,  but  irrigating  in  Col- 
orado— and  it's  a  mercy  it  didn't  get  into  the  papers." 

29 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"A  tall  girl — "  put  in  Prince  Alfred. 

"You  see,  he  remembers  himself." 

"He  could  not  forget,"  declared  Colonel  Vande- 
leur.  "I  shall  remember  to  my  dying  day.  Awfully 
fit,  too,  she  looked.  Might  have  ridden  to  hounds 
all  her  life." 

"She  has,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps,  "in  Long  Island. 
At  all  events,  since  she  came  back  from  school  at 
Brussels." 

"I  don't  seem  to  have  met  her  in  town,"  said 
Vandeleur. 

"You  would  not,"  the  President  told  him  dryly. 
"Miss  Lanchester  is  the  daughter  of  my  predecessor 
here,  and  since  she  grew  up  she's  had  very  little  time 
for  foreign  travel." 

"But,  of  course,"  exclaimed  Colonel  Vandeleur 
with  self-reproach,  "Lanchester — of  course.  Won- 
derful fellow,  Henry  Lanchester!  You  must  have 
been  proud  to  succeed  him,  sir." 

"I  was,"  said  Mr.  Phipps,  "and  I  wish  I  could  feel 
comfortable  in  any  of  his  clothes.  But  Henry  isn't 
stock  size." 

"James,"  said  his  wife  warningly.  "  'Filberts.' 
I  say,  'Filberts'  " — she  addressed  the  table — "when 
the  President  is  disrespectful  to  the  Chief  Executive 
in  favor  of  that  great  man,  Henry  Lanchester.  But 
it  doesn't  matter  what  I  say,  he  will  go  on  doing  it." 

"You  should  try  'chestnuts,'  Mrs.  Phipps,"  said 

30 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Major  Calder  slyly,  and  the  laugh  was  again  at  the 
President's  expense. 

"I  hear,"  said  Prince  Alfred,  accommodating  Mrs. 
Phipps's  big  Persian  cat  more  comfortably  on  his 
knee,  "that  Mr.  Lanchester's  health  is  much  better 
than  it  was.  That  breakdown  of  his — people  were 
awfully  anxious  about  it  in  England.  He  was  very 
much  admired  on  our  side,  besides  the  feeling  that, 
in  one  or  two  matters  which  you,  sir,  will  know  more 
about  than  I  do,  he  gave  us  an  awfully  square  deal." 

The  President  inclined  his  head  as  if  the  compli- 
ment were  a  personal  one. 

"Lanchester  was  fortunate  in  his  opportunities, 
Prince,"  he  said.  "If  I  weren't  forbidden  to  talk 
politics  at  breakfast,  I  could  tell  you  something  about 
the  courage  with  which  he  took  them.  His  health  is 
practically  re-established.  That  summer  in  Alaska 
last  year  did  the  business.  Marvelous  country  for 
camping.  He's  up  there  again  just  now,  looking 
after  a  silver  mine  he  put  his  foot  into  last  year. 
Pretty  deep  mine  too,  and  pretty  high  grade.  I'm 
afraid  Henry  will  roll  out  a  good  deal  too  well 
plated." 

"Struck  it  rich,  has  he?"  asked  Vandeleur.  "But 
what's  the  objection?" 

"Too  valuable  to  his  country  plain,  Colonel.  A 
good  many  people  hope  to  see  him  back  some  day 
where  he  was  before." 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  don't  believe  that  will  ever  happen,  James," 
asserted  Mrs.  Phipps.  "Sharif!  Prince — that  cat 
is  giving  you  no  peace.  Henry  Lanchester  may  be 
all  you  make  him  out  to  be,  but  the  United  States  of 
America  isn't  favorably  disposed  to  third-term  presi- 
dents. Too " 

"Too — "   repeated  Prince  Alfred  mischievously. 

"Too  discouraging  for  the  other  aspirants, 
Prince,"  Mrs.  Phipps  saved  herself.  "We  have  so 
many,  you  know." 

Mrs.  Phipps  and  her  guest  laughed  together  in 
the  happiest  understanding.  Prince  Alfred  stroked 
Sharif  with  the  consciousness  that  he  had  never  felt 
more  at  home  than  in  this  gay  and  impulsive  little 
lady's  house. 

"Henry  Lanchester,"  said  Mr.  Phipps  heavily, 
"has  only  been  elected  once.  To  succeed  to  a  post 
made  vacant  by  the  act  of  God,  such  as  poor 
Allingham's  apoplexy,  doesn't  count  in  this  coun- 
try." 

"But  why  should  Mr.  Lanchester's  silver  mine 
prevent  his  returning  to  office?"  asked  Prince  Alfred. 
"With  us  I  think  it  would  be  rather  a  recommen- 
dation." 

"Ah,  well — there's  the  difference,"  Mr.  Phipps 
told  him.  "You  consider  that  the  possession  of 
wealth  frees  a  man's  mind  for  public  duty — and  it's 
up  to  us  to  acknowledge  that  yours  is  the  logical 

32 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

view,  and  the  dignified  one.  But  this  country  has  a 
liking  for  poor  men  in  politics.  Too  many  rich  men 
out  of  them,  I  expect.  We  put  a  fellow  in  here  to 
watch  the  bosses — we've  no  time  to  waste  watching 
him.  The  camel  and  the  needle's  eye  is  a  workable 
proposition  compared  with  an  American  multi- 
millionaire and  any  sort  of  public  office." 

"That's  awfully  queer,"  reflected  Prince  Alfred, 
peeling  a  banana. 

"So  the  old  Siwash  woman  who  led  Henry  to  the 
spot  where  the  lump  came  from  may  not  have  done 
him  such  a  good  turn  as  she  thought,  or  the  country 
either,"  went  on  the  President.  "There's  one  com- 
fort— such  things  take  time  up  there.  Financing, 
road-building,  operating — it  runs  into  years  before 
you  know  where  you  are.  I'll  allow  him  to  get  it  in 
good  shape  to  leave  to  Hilary." 

"Hilary's  not  badly  off  already,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Phipps. 

"Every  cent  of  it  from  her  mother,"  asserted  the 
President  with  an  emphatic  hand  upon  the  table. 
"Till  he  went  to  Alaska,  no  man  alive  could  prove 
money  on  Henry  Lanchester.  He  simply  had  no 
room  for  it  in  his  clothes." 

The  President  leaned  his  large  bulk  back  in  his 
chair  and  looked  round  his  household  with  a  smile. 
It  was  a  heart-warming  smile,  and  took  the  place  of 
many  things  that  he  might  have  said. 

33 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Thus  disarmed  he  made  an  easy  target  for  his 
wife. 

"He  probably  had  more  room  in  them  than  the 
man  who  came  after  him,  anyhow,"  she  let  fly,  and 
Mr.  Phipps's  broad  frame  shook  with  acknowledg- 
ment. 

"Well,"  he  chuckled,  as  they  left  the  table,  "I 
shall  ask  your  opinion  to-morrow,  Prince,  when 
you've  seen  my  little  girl  among  the  other  American 
beauties  on  the  floor  to-night.  I  promise  you  shall 
meet  her — I'll  see  to  it  myself." 

"That  would  be  awfully  good  of  you,"  responded 
Prince  Alfred.  "I  had  the  honor,  as  Mrs.  Phipps 
says,  but  in  case  Miss  Lanchester  does  not  remember 
me " 

Mr.  President  Phipps  very  nearly  dug  England's 
third  son  in  the  ribs.  Instead,  he  reflected  inwardly, 
"Pretty  good — for  manners."  Then  he  glanced  at 
the  Prince,  and  as  the  shrewd  amusement  twinkled 
out  of  his  eyes,  said  to  himself,  "I'm  blessed  if  he 
didn't  mean  it." 

As  they  went  up  the  stairs  to  their  quarters,  Colo- 
nel Vandeleur,  with  one  hand  on  Prince  Alfred's 
shoulder,  turned  back  to  the  President. 

"If  you  really  want  to  show  him  something  he 
hasn't  seen  before,"  said  the  unprincipled  Vandy, 
"produce  a  plain-looking  girl." 

There  were  bundles  and  bundles  of  English  let- 

34 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ters,  the  first  mail  in  since  their  arrival.  Very  much 
like  anybody's  letters,  only  so  many  of  them,  fat  ones 
and  fashionable  ones,  and  bills,  advertisements  of 
aeroplanes  and  motors,  circulars  from  wine  mer- 
chants, bucket-shops,  and  money-lenders,  a  brief 
epistle  signed  "Yours  affectionately,  John";  another 
not  so  well  spelled  from  the  man  in  Farnborough 
who  was  looking  after  Your  Royal  Highness's  dog. 
There  were  some  newspapers,  too,  his  Popular  Sci- 
ence Weekly  that  he  always  took  in,  and  the  Times, 
his  Aunt  Georgina's  copy,  with  the  Financial  Supple- 
ments taken  out  to  save  postage,  addressed  to  him 
by  her  own  hand.  There  was  a  letter,  too,  from  the 
Princess,  one  of  the  fat  ones.  It  had  "Kensington 
Palace"  boldly  stamped  across  the  flap,  and  was  the 
first  Prince  Alfred  opened.  His  Aunt  Georgina  was 
the  most  faithful  letter-writer  in  the  family.  No 
one  in  absence  could  escape  her,  and  Prince  Alfred 
always  opened  her  letters  first,  to  be  kept  in  touch 
and  get  it  over. 

It  began  very  brightly  and  chattily,  as  the  Duchess 
of  Altenburg's  letters  always  did.  She  bent  first  to 
the  consideration  of  public  affairs;  her  pen  did  its 
duty  by  the  events  of  the  week  in  due  recognition  of 
their  claims  to  notice.  The  weather  had  suddenly 
turned  wet  and  rainy,  very  bad,  she  feared,  for  the 
poor  farmers,  whose  interests  she  always  felt  to  be 
the  special  charge  of  Providence.  Alfred  must  have 

35 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

been  appalled,  as  they  all  were,  by  the  shocking  col- 
liery disaster  at  Rhonndha.  Had  he  seen  dear  John's 
extraordinarily  plucky  behavior  in  the  papers — going 
down  with  the  first  party  of  rescuers  in  spite  of  all 
that  was  very  rightly  said  to  deter  him?  Nobody 
could  be  more  thankful  than  she  that  John  had  in- 
herited his  father's  priceless  gift  of  sympathy  with 
the  afflicted,  but  there  were  lengths  to  which  he 
should  not  permit  it  to  carry  him,  and  she  was  glad 
to  see  that  the  dear  old  Times  had  given  him  a  good 
scolding.  There  was  a  word  about  the  fall  of  the 
French  Ministry,  for  which  she  was  perfectly  certain 
that  poor,  unfortunate  M.  Pinaud  was  far  from  re- 
sponsible, whatever  they  may  say,  and  then  the 
Princess  passed  on  to  just  the  echo  of  a  whisper  of 
gossip  from  St.  Petersburg,  which  she  disbelieved 
absolutely,  and  only  mentioned  lest  it  should  reach 
her  nephew  from  some  other  source.  It  had  to  do 
with  the  projected  union  of  one  of  the  Russian  Grand 
Dukes  with  the  little  Archduchess  Sophie  Ludovica 
of  Sternberg-Hofstein — "my  dear  little  friend  So- 
phie, to  whom  I  have  been  attached  since  she  was  a 
flaxen-haired  tot  of  five.  .  .  . 

"Most  unsuitable.  He  is  fifty,  she  twenty  on  her 
next  birthday,  and  young  at  that  in  appearance, 
though  with  quite  a  modest  stock  of  cleverness  in 
that  sleek  little  head.  You  will  perhaps  hardly  re- 
member her — she  was  in  the  Backfisch  stage  when 

36 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

you  saw  her  last,  though  even  then  showing  character 
and  ideas  of  her  own  to  an  extent  that  surprised 
one  in  a  German  girl.  I  remember  laughing  at 
her  sturdy  remark  that  she  'would  prefer  not  to 
marry  at  all,  but  if  it  was  necessary'  she  'would  choose 
an  Englishman,  as  they  made  the  best  husbands.'  It 
was  an  amusing  preference,  but  I  have  better  reasons 
than  that  for  believing  that  there  is  nothing  whatever 
in  the  Russian  report.  By  the  way,  I  have  had  a 
charming  letter  from  Sophie,  full  of  her  studies  and 
her  fresh  young  impressions  of  the  life  about  her, 
and  I  think  it  not  improbable  that  she  may  accom- 
pany her  cousin,  Princess  Konigsmark,  to  Scotland 
this  autumn,  where  the  Princess  has  taken  Clavis- 
more  from  the  Maccleughs — you  remember  frown- 
ing, battlemented  Clavismore?  No  bad  refuge  from 
a  pursuing  Grand  Duke,  say  I." 

Inquiries  and  recommendations  as  to  her  nephew's 
health  filled  two  good  pages,  after  which  the  Prin- 
cess exclaimed  that  she  must  not  forget  his  kind  hosts 
the  Americans,  and  inquired  cordially  after  them. 
She  was  sure  that  by  now  Alfred  would  be  impressed, 
as  he  could  be  nowhere  else  in  the  world,  with  a  sense 
of  gigantic  enterprise  and  "go."  The  Americans 
more  than  any  other  people  had  the  genius  of  great 
undertakings — one  imagines  the  royal  lady  achiev- 
ing this  phrase  as  both  true  and  quotable.  They  quite 
worked  one  up — at  least,  that  was  her  recollection. 

37 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Princess  Georgina  grieved  to  think  that  although 
her  remembrance  of  dear  America  and  her  delightful 
visit  was  so  vivid,  she  could  think  of  no  dear  Amer- 
ican who  could  reasonably  be  expected  to  remember 
her.  Time  and  distance — alas!  Yet  there  was  one 
upon  whom  she  considered  that  she  had  a  special 
claim,  if  not  to  remembrance  at  least  to  recognition. 
Did  Alfred  know  that  the  Princess  had  a  goddaugh- 
ter in  America?  Where,  she  grieved  to  say,  she 
knew  not — yet  it  was  not  altogether  like  a  needle 
in  a  haystack,  for  the  poor  baby's  father  had  since 
achieved  presidential  distinction  —  Lanchester  his 
name  was.  Only  ceased  to  be  president,  to  the  best 
of  the  Princess's  recollection,  three  years  before;  but 
she  confessed  she  had  neither  the  brains  nor  the 
memory — ("The  tall  girl!"  exclaimed  Alfred,  and 
did  not  skip  another  line) — for  American  politics. 
Be  that  as  might  be  learned,  the  baby  was  just  a  little 
motherless  relative,  when  the  Princess  became  its 
sponsor,  of  a  former  ambassador  to  St.  James's,  an 
old  dear,  long  since  -dead.  A  sweet  little  episode, 
and  she  had  often  felt  compunctions,  and  been  mean- 
ing to  write ;  but  somehow  she  was  afraid  it  had  just 
remained  a  little  episode.  For  one  thing,  people 
usually  came,  and  the  little  Lanchester  never  had — 
shy,  perhaps.  At  all  events,  should  Alfred  meet  a 
Miss  Lanchester — stranger  things  have  happened — 
an  only  child  whose  father  was  once  president,  and 

38 


'HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

who  had  lost  her  mother  when  she  was  very  young, 
he  might  just  say  a  kindly  word,  and  hint  that  if  she 
should  find  her  way  to  London  her  godmother  would 
be  very  pleased  to  see  her,  and  possibly  to  present 
her  at  court.  And,  remembering  as  she  did  what  an 
excellent  impression  that  little  act  of  kindness  made, 
the  Princess  strongly  recommended  that,  should  any 
similar  opportunity  present  itself  to  her  nephew,  he 
should  not  let  it  go  by.  "The  ceremony,"  added  Aunt 
Georgina,  "is  very  brief,  and  the  mug  is  nominal." 


CHAPTER    IV 

IT  was  altogether  unprecedented,  a  royal  visitor 
in  Washington  in  June.  As  a  rule,  no  president 
would  be  there  for  him  to  visit,  no  Con- 
gress sitting  for  him  to  attend.  Prince  Alfred  de- 
clared himself  lucky,  and  behaved  as  if  he  thought 
so. 

"Exactly  as  he  is  about  everything,"  Colonel  Van- 
deleur  confided  to  them.  "Mad  keen  to  see  the 
works" ;  and  his  perspiring  hosts,  feeling  a  little  guilty 
about  the  temperature,  were  glad  of  the  reassurance. 

"We  hope  you  will  be  able  to  support  it,  but  we 
can't  expect  you  to  like  it,"  said  the  President,  pri- 
vately very  well  aware  that  his  young  guest  was  liking 
every  minute  of  it,  liking  it  tremendously,  and  in  no 
mood  to  listen  to  Colonel  Vandeleur's  hints  that  a 
day  or  two  dropped  off  the  end  of  the  visit  would 
be  quite  understood  in  the  light  of  the  daily  tem- 
peratures. The  President,  with  Congress,  as  it  were, 
in  his  pocket  and  a  world  of  interesting  informa- 
tion at  the  touch  of  a  button,  could  enjoy  a  little 
insincerity  in  talking  that  way;  it  was  Mrs.  Phipps 

40 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

and  Major  Calder  who  really  meant  it.  Dinners 
and  lunches  were  inevitable;  people  had  to  dine 
and  lunch  whatever  the  thermometer  said,  and,  as 
we  know,  Mrs.  Phipps  had  thrown  in  breakfast,  so 
far  as  she  was  concerned  personally.  She  had  mo- 
ments under  the  electric  fan  of  feeling  she  could  do 
no  more.  Nothing,  in  all  their  perplexities,  had  been 
more  debated  than  the  dance.  Were  there,  to  begin 
with,  people  enough?  Resident  Washington  had  fled 
in  all  directions.  Would  any  proportion  of  it,  at 
a  card,  flee  back  again?  Where  were  the  wives  of 
the  Cabinet  and  the  Senate — not  many,  rest  assured, 
like  heroic  Mrs.  Phipps,  at  their  post.  Where  were 
the  Embassies?  At  summer  quarters,  largely  on 
leave,  certainly  empty,  except  for  Prince  Alfred's 
own  and  poor  dear  Lady  Pak,  of  all  charm.  Then 
the  heat.  Could  anybody,  would  anybody  dance, 
though  the  ballroom  were  turned  into  a  cave  of  the 
winds  with  fans?  Major  Calder  was  inclined  to 
think  they  could  and  would.  Major  Calder  was  op- 
timistic all  through — offered  personally  to  bear  the 
responsibility. 

Major  Calder  went  into  committee  with  Hilary, 
whom  the  President  called  always  his  extra-A.D.C., 
and  they  invited  the  views  of  Captain  Howard,  of 
the  Embassy  concerned,  who  declared  that  in  his 
experience  the  sun  never  rose  on  the  British  domin- 
ions except  to  the  tune  of  dance  music,  even  in  the 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

tropics,  and  so  put  them  on  their  mettle.  There  was 
also  the  question  as  to  where  else  the  Prince  would 
have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  flower  of  American 
society  engaged  in  its  favorite  pastime.  His  itine- 
rary excluded  summer  resorts ;  he  was  understood  to 
be  too  much  in  earnest  about  the  most  profitable  use 
of  his  time.  Anything,  of  course,  might  happen  in 
the  West,  but  was  it  wholly  desirable  that  the  Prince's 
ideas  of  American  society  should  be  left  to  form  in 
those  free  areas?  Moreover,  nowhere  after  this 
could  such  an  entertainment  bear  the  stamp  and  seal 
of  the  official  sample.  To  these  deliberations,  Hil- 
ary contributed  the  conviction  that  the  most  dis- 
tinguished, the  most  desirable  people  within  any 
reasonable  radius  would  not  only  come  but  pant  to 
be  asked. 

"They'll  make  a  lofty  duty  of  it,"  she  said. 
"They'll  fly  by  night  to  be  here.  Neither  sun-stroke 
nor  self-sacrifice  will  count.  They'll  be  here." 

Hilary,  as  usual,  carried  the  day.  It  wasn't  to 
be  anything  so  unreasonable  as  a  ball,  but  it  was  to 
be  a  dance,  an  "At  Home,  Dancing."  Mrs.  Phipps 
agreed  with  misgivings,  but  she  did  agree  to  an  "At 
Home,  Dancing."  London,  following  with  interest 
in  the  thick  of  its  own  season,  never  realized  how 
sporting  she  was ;  and  Prince  Alfred,  when  he  heard 
of  it,  noted  it  among  the  delightful  fixtures  that  would 
have  to  be  got  through,  and  never  once  thought,  after 

42 


the  manner  of  his  race,  about  the  disabilities  of  the 
weather. 

Nor,  apparently,  did  anybody  else,  judging  by  the 
desire  for  invitations.  Major  Calder  declared  him- 
self to  have  been  the  center  of  an  intrigue  that 
stretched  for  three  hundred  miles  to  every  point  of 
the  compass,  to  say  nothing  of  Mount  Kisco,  Tuxedo 
and  New  York.  Ordinary  members  of  Congress 
produced  wives  and  daughters  from  incredible  dis- 
tances, and  were  very  firm  about  them,  while,  as  Hil- 
ary had  prophesied,  there  were  miraculously  almost 
too  many  of  the  people  one  really  wanted.  The  New 
York  papers  added  columns  to  the  excitement  under 
headings  like  "Say,  Are  You  Asked  to  the  Ball?'* 
and  gave  long  accounts  of  the  proposed  decorations, 
the  supper,  the  number  of  electric  fans  that  would 
whirl,  and  tons  of  ice  that  would  melt  in  service  of 
the  occasion.  Mrs.  Phipps  saw  with  indignation 
that  she  was  to  wear  a  "robe"  of  cloudiest  silk  mus- 
lin specially  designed  and  embroidered  in  gold  with 
the  American  eagle,  and  was  not  allowed  to  contra- 
dict it  except  at  meals — "Because,"  said  the  President, 
"perhaps  you  ought  to."  His  Royal  Highness,  it 
was  understood,  would  appear  in  the  ordinary  even- 
ing; dress  of  an  English  gentleman,  wearing  his 
decorations — a  plausible  assumption  which  the  event 
was  equally  to  disprove.  To  Colonel  Vandeleur's  as- 
tonishment, Prince  Alfred  came  to  him  with  an  idea 

43 


'HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

about  his  clothes.  This  was  most  unexpected  in  the 
Prince.  In  the  words  of  his  impressed  valet,  Catkin, 
he  had  never  hitherto  been  known  to  do  more  than 
put  on  what  was  put  out,  and  would  hardly  be  aware 
whether  he  was  wearing  a  Norfolk  coat  or  a  dinner- 
jacket.  Prince  Alfred  sprung  his  clothes  upon  his 
equerry  at  the  last  moment.  Colonel  Vandeleur  was 
at  a  loss  what  to  say,  and  finally  consulted  the  Presi- 
dent, in  an  interview  of  serious  and  ceremonious 
doubt. 

"I  didn't  know  he  had  it  with  him,"  said  the 
Colonel  with  a  furrowed  forehead.  "But,  having 
expressed  the  wish " 

"Exactly,"  said  the  President,  and  rang  for  Major 
Calder,  who  contributed  another  anxious  brow,  and 
suggested  telephoning  the  State  Department,  where 
there  was  a  man  who  certainly  knew.  Had  Vande- 
leur consulted  Pakenham  ?  Oh,  as  to  the  Embassy — 
Prince  Alfred's  lightest  wish — naturally,  must  be  law 
to  them  all.  Then,  if  Colonel  Vandeleur  really 
wished  an  opinion,  they  would  with  pleasure  telephone 
the  State  Department. 

There  authority  found  no  precedent,  though  a 
search  at  the  other  end  was  audible. 

"But  why  not?  It's  a  kind  thought,"  enunciated 
the  receiver  in  the  hand  of  Major  Calder. 

"It  occurs  to  me,"  said  President  Phipps,  as  they 
settled  it.  "that  some  little  interest  should  be  expressed 

44 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

in  my  clothes.  But  it  seems  to  be  taken  for  granted 
that  I  shall  appear  in  the  creation  I  looked  so  charm- 
ing in  last  time." 

It  was  Major  Calder  who  told  Hilary,  shortly 
after  the  presidential  party  entered  the  ballroom 
after  dinner,  what  Prince  Alfred  was  wearing.  She 
asked  him,  with  deep  and  natural  interest,  the  uni- 
form was  so  extremely  becoming.  The  dark  green 
shoulders  were  so  broad,  the  dark  head  above  them 
so  erectly  held,  the  hilt  and  scabbard  so  unexpected 
an  incident  in  the  ordinary  evening  dress  of  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman. 

"It's  the  Imperial  Rifles,"  Calder  told  her. 
"That's  his  regiment,  but  he's  wearing  the  uniform 
to-night  because  it  was  once  ours — the  Royal  Ameri- 
cans they  were,  and  never  came  back  to  be  disbanded. 
The  regiment  sort  of  belonged  over  here  in  the  seven- 
teen seventies,  and  for  to-night,  out  of  compliment  to 
us,  he's  a  Royal  American — without  prejudice  to  the 
Imperial  Rifles." 

"Oh,"  said  Hilary,  watching  the  slender  figure 
bend  to  the  first  presentations.  "Oh " 

Her  hand,  as  she  stood  looking,  slipped  over  her 
heart,  which  was  beating  with  a  sudden  sense  of  wild 
romance 

"Nobody  knows,"  Major  Calder  was  saying, 
"whether  he  had  any  earthly  right  to  do  it.  Vandy 
thinks  he's  mad  and  certain  to  get  into  trouble  at 

45 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

home  over  it.  But  I'm  here  for  you,  Miss  Hilary. 
It's  as  much  as  my  place  is  worth  if  you  don't  make 
your  bow  among  the  first  twenty.  The  President 
as  good  as  told  me  so.  Think  of  those  dependent  on 
me,  and  come." 

"Not  yet,"  said  Hilary.  "Please,  not  yet.  Later 
on,  Major  Calder.  Please,  later  on." 

"The  first  twenty,  or  I'm  fired.  Have  pity,  Miss 
Hilary.  Think  of  my  aged  mother." 

"There  is  your  aged  mother  looking  for  you," 
she  told  him,  indicating  a  jeweled,  portly  and  radi- 
ant lady  in  full  sail  toward  them;  and  when  Calder 
turned  again  from  the  maternal  greeting,  Hilary  was 
gone.  In  and  out  she  went  among  groups  that 
looked  at  her  with  the  admiring  recognition  that  ac- 
knowledges itself  unknown,  passing  here  and  there 
one  that  accosted  and  would  have  detained  her.  She 
laughed  and  went  by,  pretending  a  purpose.  Her 
face  had  happy  intention  in  it;  her  eyes  searched; 
as  an  intimate  of  the  house,  she  might  well  be  carry- 
ing out  some  commission  or  some  quest.  And  all  to 
cover  an  exquisite  sudden  commotion,  an  unaccount- 
able impulse  to  fly.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the  room 
she  paused  beside  a  garlanded  pillar  and  looked  back, 
very  lovely,  very  undecided,  mysteriously,  helplessly 
near  to  the  tears  of  pure  excitement.  A  kind,  dull 
face  surged  out  of  the  crowd  toward  her,  Betty  Car- 
roll's. Wasn't  it  wonderfully  cool  after  all !  Such 

46 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

a  lucky  drop  in  the  temperature  since  yesterday,  and 
why  wasn't  Hilary  dancing  this  first  extra  ?  Would 
Betty  sit  it  out  with  her?  Betty  couldn't  believe  her 
ears — they  would  be  raided — but  wouldn't  she  just ! 
How  darling  of  Hilary!  Here  behind  the  palm? 
"...  And  do  you  know,  honey,  what  the  angel 
has  got  on?  .  .  ." 


CHAPTER   V 

MEANWHILE,  Major  Calder's  mother 
achieved  her  presentation,  and  Major  Cal- 
der,  who  understood  the  duties  of  a  son  as 
well  as  those  of  an  aide-de-camp,  saw  that  she  had  a 
real  talk  of  three  good  minutes.  Mrs.  Calder  made 
the  pleasantest  impression,  and  drifted  away  into 
the  important  official  circles  that  ever  widened  about 
Prince  Alfred  and  his  immediate  support,  with  the 
happiest  grace  possible  to  so  large  a  lady.  Other 
presentations  were  made  with  equal  form  and  felicity, 
while  the  first  extras  were  merrily  danced  by  young 
people  who  felt  themselves  unlikly  to  receive  that  dis- 
tinction, and  to  whom,  in  any  case,  a  waltz  was  a 
waltz.  The  scene  had  every  brilliancy,  and  seemed  to 
gain  a  charm,  a  spontaneity,  from  being  so  unexpected 
and  out  of  season. .  Distinguished  persons  stood  about 
in  attitudes,  in  spite  of  their  ease,  equally  distin- 
guished; stars  glittered;  uniforms  scattered  their  hint 
of  high  duty  and  gay  prestige.  A  thousand  roses 
broke  their  hearts  upon  the  air  under  the  flying  fans, 
the  orchestra  swept  like  a  tide  of  delight  over  all. 

48 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

A  graceful,  whirling  world  upon  the  floor  before  him, 
a  world  of  influential  office  and  high  claims  about 
him,  a  new  world  dancing  to  the  old  tunes,  new 
flowers  blooming  in  familiar  petals — Prince  Alfred 
felt  suddenly  the  gaiety  of  any  young  man  at  a  ball, 
and  knew  that  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  was  going 
to  enjoy  himself  at  one.  He  listened  with  bent  head 
to  the  final  reminiscence  of  the  old  lady  who  remem- 
bered the  visit  of  his  father  as  Prince  of  Wales,  his 
heart  bounding  with  a  glorious  sense  of  enchantment 
and  peradventure.  Then  he  said  formally  to  the 
President,  "May  I  get  rid  of  my  sword,  sir?" 

Vandy  took  it,  solemnly,  and  handed  it  to  Major 
Calder,  who  in  turn  confided  it  to  an  aide-de-camp, 
in  whose  charge  it  disappeared.  The  old  lady — she 
was  very  charming  in  a  lace  cap — leant  on  her  ebony 
stick  and  touched  his  arm  with  her  delicate  fan. 
"There's  only  one  time  to  dance,  Prince,"  she  advised 
him,  with  a  smile  that  printed  her  face  forever  in 
his  memory. 

There  is  a  royal  gesture  of  the  head  which  creates 
at  once  a  confidential  loneliness.  Prince  Alfred  made 
it  toward  his  equerry. 

"Would  it  matter,  Vandy,  if  I  cut  in  now?"  he 
said;  but  Vandy  was  saved  more  than  a  smile  of  em- 
barrassment. Already  the  music  of  the  second  extra 
was  throbbing  to  its  end,  and  in  another  moment  the 
notes  of  the  prelude  to  the  state  lancers  sent  person- 

49 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ages  looking  for  the  partners  conferred  upon  them, 
and  flung  the  waltzers  into  foamy  lines  and  groups 
along  the  sides  of  the  room  to  watch  the  still  new 
feature  of  a  ceremonial  dance  in  the  White  House. 
Prince  Alfred  gave  his  arm  to  Mrs.  Phipps,  the 
President  sought  out  Lady  Pak,  secretaries  and  am- 
bassadors fell  into  their  places,  and  in  the  properest 
manner,  head  high  and  feet  that  stepped  to  a  strange 
magic,  Prince  Alfred  danced  his  first  American  meas- 
ure straight  across  the  heart  of  Hilary  Lanchester, 
where  she  hid  it  under  a  palm  at  the  further  end  of 
the  room,  a  spot  from  which,  nevertheless,  its 
guardian,  dissimulated  in  converse  with  Betty  Carroll, 
had  an  excellent  view  of  what  was  happening. 

"Oh,  Betty,"  she  moaned,  taking  it  all  as  a  jest, 
"I  adore  him — don't  you?"  and  Betty  professed  her- 
self in  the  same  case.  So  they  might  have  adored  his 
painted  picture;  yet  there  was  a  difference,  and  Betty 
was  much  the  more  composed  of  the  two. 

"The  Royal  Americans!  Betty!" 

"I  know,"  said  Betty. 

Naturally,  Miss  Lanchester  was  not  allowed  to  re- 
main undisturbed  under  the  palm,  nor  even  Betty 
Carroll,  whose  father  held  a  responsible  appointment 
in  the  Navy  Department,  and  who,  half  an  hour  later, 
was  seen  by  all  the  world  doing  her  incomparable 
two-step  with  the  Prince.  Hilary,  going  from  part- 
ner to  partner,  keeping  in  half  willful,  half  terrified 

50 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

mutiny  well  away  from  Mrs.  Phipps,  from  Major 
Calder,  from  her  dear  President,  from  everybody  else 
in  the  charmed  circle,  saw  Betty  doing  her  two-step, 
and  gave  the  dance  to  young  Jimenez  of  the  Spanish 
Embassy,  who  was  far  too  much  in  love  with  her, 
because  he  was  the  best  dancer  in  the  room.  The 
Prince,  treading  the  maze  with  Betty,  treading  the 
maze  full  of  magic  that  denied  him  always  its  center, 
saw  her  at  last  with  Jimenez.  At  last,  not  at  first, 
because,  though  his  heart  was  keeping  time  to  his 
feet,  and  both  knew  themselves  involved  in  magic 
and  a  maze,  he  was  paying  the  conscientious  atten- 
tion to  his  steps  suitable  to  a  young  Englishman  of  his 
rank  in  life.  But  at  last 

"Shall  we  stop  for  a  minute?"  he  said,  and  they 
stopped,  Betty  not  wholly  sorry  to  stop,  beside  an- 
other garlanded  pillar,  where  the  eyes  of  all  were 
upon  them. 

"That,"  said  he,  as  Hilary  and  Jimenez  passed 
again,  with  the  grace  of  a  wave  of  the  sea,  "is 
Miss ?" 

"Lanchester,"  Betty  told  him.  "We  think  her 
about  the  most  exquisite  thing  there  is.  I  should  just 
love  to  know,  Prince,  how  she  compares  with  girls 
on  your  side." 

He  was  watching  the  floating  figures,  and  Betty 
thought  his  expression  very  critical. 

"I'm  afraid  I  can't  tell  you,"  he  said.     "I  have 

Si 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

never  seen  anything  like  Miss  Lanchester.  Who  is 
that  foreigner?" 

He  said  it  simply,  but  his  tone  must  have  carried 
some  displeasure,  for  the  innocent  Betty,  an  empiricist 
at  conversation  with  royalty,  wondered  if  she  had 
been  snubbed. 

"Ought  I,"  she  demanded  widely  later,  "to  have 
waited  till  he  expressed  an  opinion?  From  that  in- 
stant Mr.  Prince  gave  me  the  marble  elbow." 

It  is  quite  true  that  in  the  short  space  that  ensued 
before  the  dance  was  over,  nothing  more  was  said, 
and  that  a  moment  later  she  just  melted  away  into 
a  seat,  as  she  said,  before  his  bow. 

So  he  found  her  for  himself,  without  Vandy,  or 
Calder,  or  anybody  to  help  him.  She  was  dropping 
a  smile  when  he  found  her,  upon  the  old  lady  in  the 
lace  cap,  who  looked  up  as  he  approached,  and 
clasped  her  hands  together  in  the  prettiest  ecstasy. 

"His  Royal  Highness,  my  dear,"  she  said.  It  is 
odd  that  her  name  should  have  been  Mrs.  Endor. 
A  widow  she  was — Mrs.  Miriam  Endor. 

Prince  Alfred  held  out  his  hand  and  offered  Miss 
Lanchester,  blushing,  an  American  formula. 

"I'm  awfully  pleased  to  meet  you,"  he  said.  It 
was  not  very  sophisticated  American,  but  she  under- 
stood it  well  enough,  and  a  little  smile  bubbled  up 
in  her  heart. 

They  looked  at  one  another  for  an  instant  with 

52 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

happy  curiosity,  like  two  children,  and  then  her  eyes 
fell.  She  kept  them  on  the  many  wrinkles  of  the 
gloves  on  the  old  lady's  hands,  crossed  in  her  lap, 
and,  quite  at  a  loss,  she  said  nothing  at  all. 

"I  hope  you  remember,"  said  Prince  Alfred,  "that 
we  have  already  been  introduced.  But,  if  not,  I  have 
credentials." 

"Credentials!"  said  Mrs.  Miriam  Endor,  lifting 
her  hands.  "Delicious." 

"I  was  presented  to  you,"  Hilary  said,  "on  Tues- 
day." 

Prince  Alfred  straightened  himself  ever  so  little, 
and  his  lips  took  the  line  which  fate  had  given  them 
for  the  acceptance  of  honorific  formulas. 

"May  I  have  this  one?"  he  said. 

"How  I  wish  I  knew,"  said  Mrs.  Miriam  Endor 
as  they  left  her  side  together,  "what  he  meant  about 
credentials,"  and  she  hobbled  away  to  find  Mrs. 
Phipps. 

Prince  Alfred  did  not  dance  altogether  well.  Hil- 
ary actually  heard  him  in  an  instant  of  diminuendo 
count  "One — two — three."  It  made  her  suddenly 
feel  quite  happy  and  natural.  Her  embarrassment 
slipped  away;  she  even  forgot  to  dance  gracefully 
in  her  desire  that  the  anxious  "One — two — three" 
should  beat  truly  to  the  music  and  to  their  feet.  As 
a  partner  can,  she  helped  him  a  little.  He  was 
really,  she  thought,  getting  into  her  step  when  he 

53 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

said  suddenly,  "I  can't  dance,  you  know,  for  nuts. 
They  say  I've  got  no  ear.  Let  us  cut  it,  and  go  and 
talk  about  my  Aunt  Georgina." 

He  took  her,  she  thought,  to  the  most  conspicuous 
place  in  the  room,  in  the  midst  of  the  notabilities, 
who  stood  aside  or  fell  away  at  their  approach  in. 
a  manner  which  seemed  to  cause  Prince  Alfred  no  in- 
convenience, but  which  struck  Miss  Lanchester  as 
extraordinarily  unkind  and  disconcerting.  Lady 
Pakenham  and  old  Lord  Selkirk,  over  on  business 
for  the  Dominion,  got  up  while  they  were  still,  it 
seemed  to  Hilary,  yards  away,  and  definitely  left  at 
their  disposal  two  high-backed  gilt  chairs,  which  said 
in  every  line  that  they  were  meant  for  visitors  of  state. 

"Please  don't  move,"  Prince  Alfred  begged  them; 
but  they  had  moved,  smiling,  quite  away,  and,  seeing 
that,  he  led  Hilary  to  one  gilt  chair,  and  took  the 
other  himself.  As  they  sat  there  in  the  natural 
aloofness  of  gilt  chairs,  but  bending  a  little  toward 
one  another,  she  in  a  white  and  flowing  gown  that 
foamed  about  her  feet,  he  a  trifle  rigid  in  his  Rifles' 
green,  they  made  a  picture  that  many  people  remem- 
bered all  their  lives.  Mrs.  Phipps  attracted  the 
President's  attention  to  it,  and  he  with  a  smile  of 
pride  at  once  turned  his  back  on  it. 

"It  isn't  so  very  warm,  after  all,"  Hilary  was  say- 
ing. "The  fans  are  almost  too  much,  near  the  win- 
dows, when  one  isn't  dancing." 

54 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"No — is  it?"  he  replied.  But  with  mutual,  solid 
ground  between  them,  why  waste  time  upon  the  tem- 
perature? "I  have  practically,  you  know,  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  you,  Miss  Lanchester.  From  an 
aunt  of  mine.  And  messages.  That  is,  if  you  are 
an  only  child,  if  you  lost  your  mother  when  you  were 
very  young,  and  if  your  father  was  once  presi- 
dent  " 

Grave  qualifications,  but  they  both  laughed;  the 
Prince  was  so  pat  with  them. 

"Nothing  was  said,  I  suppose,  about  this,"  dared 
Hilary,  touching  her  face. 

"About " 

"The  mole  on  my  left  cheek?" 

"It  doesn't  seem  much  of  a  mole."  He  inspected 
it,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  other  gilt  chair,  care- 
fully. "Perhaps  it  didn't  show  when  you  were  little." 

"Three  weeks  old  I  was."  Should  she  say,  "Sir"  ? 
Should  she  say,  "Your  Royal  Highness"?  She  said 
nothing. 

"Were  you  really?  When  my  Aunt  Geor- 
gina " 

"Christened  me — yes." 

"Oh!  now  you're  rotting.  Godmothered  you, 
you  mean." 

Hilary  blushed  crimson.  It  had  been  a  slip. 
Should  she  carry  it  off  or  confess?  She  rode  at  it 
straight. 

55 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"No,  I  wasn't — I  was  confused.  I  meant  the 
other  thing,  of  course." 

"My  aunt  didn't  tell  me,"  said  Prince  Alfred, 
looking  at  her  intently,  "what  you  were  christened." 

"Hilary  Georgina." 

"I  like  Hilary  best,"  he  said  with  simplicity. 

"It  was  my  mother's  name.  So  it  had  to  come 
first,  hadn't  it  ?" 

"Of  course.  Then — what  church  were  you  chris- 
tened in?"  he  asked  earnestly. 

"The  Episcopalian.  You  don't  think  the  Princess 
would  have  lent  herself  to  any  other  rites?" 

"I  couldn't  say.  My  aunt  is  very  broad-minded. 
Episcopalian,"  he  mused. 

"Not  Methodist  Episcopal.  Protestant  Episco- 
palian," she  explained.  "It's  what  your  Church  of 
England  calls  itself  over  here." 

"Oh,"  he  said.  "Then  you  belong,  practically,  to 
the  same  church  that  I  do.  But  I  must  not  forget 
the  messages.  My  aunt  sent  you  her  love  and  says 
she  would  be  very  pleased  to  see  you  in  England." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Hilary.  As  she  spoke  a  whirl- 
ing fan  sent  a  rose,  loosed  from  its  place  in  the  deco- 
rations, through  the  air  to  her  feet.  It  was  a  very 
perfect  red  rose,  and  Prince  Alfred  picked  it  up 
where  it  lay  between  them,  and  presented  it  to  her. 
He  could  do  no  less,  and  she,  perhaps,  was  equally 
obliged  to  lift  it  to  her  face. 

56 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"It  is  quite  fresh,"  said  Hilary,  and  it  was.  Fate 
seldom  dropped  a  fresher  rose. 

"My  aunt's  letter  was  all  about  you,"  he  persisted. 

"Was  it,  really?" 

"Yes — no,"  he  corrected.  "She  did  mention  one 
other  person.  It  is  odd  that  he  was  driven  on  to 
say:  "A  little  German  girl.  You  probably  wouldn't 
know  her " 

"Try  me,"  said  Hilary.  "There  were  some  at 
my  school  in  Brussels." 

"I  believe  she  was  at  school  somewhere — 
Sophia " 

"Not  Sophy  Sternburg-Hofstein?" 

"You  do  know  her?"  Prince  Alfred's  tone  carried 
very  moderate  interest. 

"She  is  only  one  of  my  greatest  friends  on  earth! 
Her  mother  was  a  girl  friend  of  my  mother — her 
marriage  with  the  Grand  Duke  was  an  immense  ro- 
mance— so  Sophy  and  I  just  fell  into  each  other's 
arms  at  Mademoiselle's.  How  delightful  that — that 
you  should  have  been  hearing  about  Sophy.  Then 
you  know  her,  too?" 

"I'm  supposed  to.  But  I  have  the  vaguest  recol- 
lection of  her.  My  aunt  tells  me  I  haven't  seen  her 
since  she  was  a  Backfisch." 

"We  were  Backfisches  together.  Do  tell  me 
whether  she  is  going  to  Scotland?"  For  all  her 
effort  at  repose,  Miss  Lanchester's  words  would 

57 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

scamper.  "In  her  letter  last  week  she  was  dying  to, 
but  it  wasn't  settled  a  bit." 

"I  understand  she  is  going  to  Scotland,"  said 
Prince  Alfred.  "My  aunt  spoke  of  our  seeing  her 
there." 

"I  could  just  weep  for  joy.  Poor  darling — she 
leads  the  dullest  life ;  she  longs  to  be  back  at  school. 
And  all  day  long  nothing  but  intrigues  to  marry  her 
to  somebody.  Hates  going  anywhere  for  fear  of 
meeting  exactly  the  right  person  quite  by  surprise, 
and  then  a  solemn  communication  and  a  scene.  It 
has  happened!  Really,  between  the  Kaiser  and  his 
wicked  old  Chancellor,  Sophy  might  just  as  well  be 
living  in  the  Middle  Ages.  And  the  abominable 
tyranny  of  those  two  men.  She  can't  so  much  as 
select  her  own  literature,  not  to  speak  of  her  own 
maid.  It's  a  medieval  situation.  Somebody  ought 
to  rescue  her — Prince." 

"I  am  sure,"  said  Prince  Alfred  earnestly,  "some- 
body will.  My  aunt  leads  me  to  believe  that  several 
people  have  already  tried." 

"Not,"  said  Hilary  with  emphasis,  "the  right  peo- 
ple. She  draws  them  in  her  letters — thumb-nail 
sketches — and  I  can  see  that  they're  not.  You  can't 
think  what  it  is  for  a  girl  who  has  been  at  school  and 
all,  to  be  just  a  pawn  for  German  diplomacy — to  be 
moved,  for  the  good  of  the  Empire,  into  the  married 
state  out  of  the  single." 

58 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

He  looked  at  her  for  a  moment  without  answer- 
ing. 

"It's  not  nice  for  anybody,"  he  then  said;  and 
there  was  something  in  his  voice  that  surprised  her 
with  a  sudden  compunction.  But  Vandy,  who  hov- 
ered never  too  far  away,  now  came  pointedly  up. 

"Supper,  sir,  is  at  the  end  of  this  dance,"  he  said. 
"The  procession  will  form  from  the  dais.  Mrs. 
Phipps  will  be  near  the  door  into  the  drawing-room 
on  the  right.  Miss  Lanchester,  may  I  have  the 
honor  of  taking  you  in?" 


CHAPTER   VI 

FOR  the  celebration  of  such  a  function  as  the 
President's  ball  it  was  as  necessary  as  ever  to 
turn  to  the  newspapers,  especially  to  the  news- 
papers of  New  York;  and  the  metropolitan  press 
certainly  rewarded  attention  the  day  after  the  event, 
so  clever  it  was,  and  so  imaginative.  The  whole 
world  danced  in  it  up  and  down  close  printed  columns, 
the  whole  uninvited  world  that  had  a  nickel  to  pay. 
The  names  of  the  guests  were  there  in  starry  rows. 
The  uninvited  world  hailed  them  as  representative 
and  revelled  in  their  clothes.  But  the  chief  glorying 
was  in  the  uniform  of  Prince  Alfred. 

"That  once  American  green,  those  buttons  un- 
der which  once  beat  American  hearts  as  true  as 
his  to  the  island  throne  and  the  gray  old  mother 
over  seas." 

Nothing  was  lost  of  the  princely  compliment;  the 
Republic  smiled  to  it  from  north  to  south ;  Life  had  a 
charming  cartoon.  There  were  columns  about  the  his- 
tory and  exploits  of  the  regiment,  and  Prince  Alfred 
was  assured  that  he  would  never  lose  the  name  or  the 

60 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

distinction  of  being  the  first  Royal  American 
since  '76. 

"Sentimentally,"  said  the  Evening  Post,  "we  are 
enchanted,  and  politically  we  can  stand  it,  since  there 
is  at  present  only  one."  The  little  tribute  was  taken 
in  the  highest  spirits,  but  it  would  be  foolish  to  sup- 
pose that  the  jest  carried  all.  Pages  turned  back 
and  eyes  followed  them,  to  the  old  quiet  century  be- 
fore the  great  era  of  splendid  assertion.  Family 
records  were  looked  up,  old  miniatures  produced. 
Boston  talked  of  a  colonial  pageant  in  honor  of  the 
Prince. 

"So  far  as  I  can  make  out,"  said  Colonel  Vande- 
leur,  sorting  letters  and  telegrams  next  morning  in 
the  setting-room  of  their  suite,  "there  are  exactly 
thirteen  applications  from  illustrated  papers  for  your 
photograph  in  that  kit  of  yours  last  night,  my  dear 
boy.  As  well  as  four  intimations  of  public  functions 
at  which  you  are  invited  to  appear  wearing  it." 

"There  is  also  a  cable  from  the  Duchess  of  Alten- 
burg,"  said  Prince  Alfred,  "suggesting  that  I  should 
send  it  home.  I  gather  John  R.  has  been  making 
remarks.  My  aunt  adds  'Await  press  comments  with 
deepest  apprehension.'  She  must  have  been  upset, 
to  put  in  that  unnecessary  'with.'  I  think  I  will 
send  it  home,  Vandy.  There's  a  post  to-day. 
That  will  gratify  my  aunt  and  dispose  of  the  photo- 
graphs." 

61 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Colonel  Vandeleur  opened  another  envelope  and 
glanced  at  its  contents  with  a  longer  face. 

"Cipher,"  he  said,  "F.  O.  I  thought  I  should  hear 
from  'em."  He  unlocked  a  despatch-box  and  took 
out  a  small  code  book.  "Gad — I  hope  it  isn't  a  re- 
call. Really,  dear  chap,  I  don't  know  what  induced 
you  to  do  it." 

"I  wanted  to  look  well  dressed,"  Prince  Alfred 
told  him,  "in  the  eyes  of  my  hosts.  The  Foreign 
Office  be  blowed.  And  I  warn  you  straight,  Vandy, 
if  it  is  a  recall,  I  don't  propose  to  go." 

Colonel  Vandeleur  looked  rather  blankly  at  his 
charge,  whose  tone  of  determination  certainly  gave  a 
gentleman-in-waiting  to  think.  It  was  not  a  recall 
when  they  made  it  out,  but  it  was  a  very  plain  admoni- 
tion. Prince  Alfred  considered  it  with  a  sharp  line 
between  his  brows,  and  a  lower  lip  that  looked  more 
irritated  than  impressed. 

"That's  the  kind  of  ridiculous  and  unnecessary 
quacking  that  goes  on  the  year  round,"  he  said. 
"But  it's  the  first  time  I've  had  my  kit  interfered 
with.  Wire  back  and  tell  'em  I  consider  my  clothes 
my  own." 

He  spoke,  of  course,  like  a  high-spirited  youth 
checked  in  an  uncomfortable  and  impressive  way  for 
an  initiative  in  which  he  had  taken  pleasure  and  pride; 
and  Vandy  did  not  interpret  his  words  as  instructions. 
He  had  also  been  warned  that  his  Prince  was  incor- 

62 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

rigibly  impatient  of  control,  easily  angered  by  too 
obvious  restraint,  and  subject  in  such  connection  to  a 
peculiarly  durable  sulkiness  in  which  he  was  difficult 
to  manage.  His  winning  smile  would  fly,  and  he 
would  simply  turn  to  authority  a  very  cold  shoulder. 
Colonel  Vandeleur  was  never  to  forget  that  what  his 
present  task  most  demanded  was  tact.  Fortunately 
tact  was  the  very  thing  that  the  Colonel  had  most  in 
reserve.  He  produced  a  little  of  it  now. 

"I  agree  with  you  that  it  had  better  go  back,"  he 
said.  "On  the  simple  ground  that  you  won't  want  it 
after  this.  Of  course  I  understand  their  attitude  in 
a  way;  but  the  trouble  is  they  don't  in  the  least  realize 
how  little  a  thing  like  that  really  counts  on  this 
side " 

"Silly  asses." 

"As  you  say  it  was  liked  and  appreciated,  very 
much  liked  and  appreciated — but  as  to  attaching  any 
serious  importance  to  a  thing  like  that — it's  only 
Europe,  you  know,  that  would." 

At  that  moment  Prince  Alfred's  valet  passed,  like 
an  efficient  shadow,  to  the  door  of  his  master's  bed- 
room, a  clothes-brush  in  his  hand,  the  green  uniform 
over  his  arm. 

"Catkin,"  said  the  Prince,  "the  Auretania  starts 
back  to-morrow — I  saw  it  in  the  papers.  Put  that 
kit  on  board.  And  look  here  Catkin — you  are  to 
go  with  it — understand?  To  take  charge  of  it. 

63 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

You've  been  invaluable,  Catkin,  so  far,  but  now  I 
am  going  to  look  after  myself  for  a  bit,  and  you  won't 
be  sorry  for  a  holiday.  So  hop  it,  Catkin." 

The  man  stood  dumbfounded.  "Yes,  sir,"  he  said. 
"Yes,  sir,"  and  looked  at  Colonel  Vandeleur,  who 
had  risen  and  stood  braced,  as  it  seemed,  before  the 
emergency  of  his  life. 

"My  dear  fellow,"  he  said  firmly.  "You  simply 
cannot  do  without  Catkin.  You  may  take  it  from 
me.  In  this  country  above  all  others,  where  you — 
where  a  man  may  any  day  be  expected  to  black  his 
own  boots " 

"I  was  taught  to  black  my  own  boots  and  other 
useful  things  when  I  was  ten,"  said  Prince  Alfred, 
"and  I  am  rather  glad  to  be  in  a  place  where  I  may 
be  expected  to  black  'em  again.  I  bet  you  ten  bob, 
Vandy,  I  do  a  better  shine  than  you  do." 

It  was  certainly  a  way  of  paying  them  back  for 
their  telegrams,  especially,  perhaps,  Aunt  Georgina. 
Prince  Alfred's  good  humor  was  completely  restored. 
He  was  pacing  the  room  now,  his  hands  in  his  trousers 
pockets,  with  a  gay  and  enterprising  face  from  which 
the  shadows  had  been  chased  by  an  imaginary  black- 
ing-brush. 

"I've  no  doubt  you  would,"  said  Colonel  Vande- 
leur unhappily,  "but  dash  it  all,  Prince,  do  consider 
what  will  be  said  when  you  are  seen  absolutely  un- 
attended  " 

64 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"My  dear  Vandy,  I've  got  you,"  exclaimed  Prince 
Alfred,  royally  disconcerting.  "You  will  save  my 
life  and  take  care  of  my  money,  you  know  you  will, 
and  what  more  do  I  want?"  He  looked  radiant, 
and  the  line  of  his  chin  in  profile  was  extremely  dis- 
tinct. 

"Oh,  sir,"  implored  the  faithful  Catkin,  "if  I 
might  make  the  suggestion,  who,  sir,  will  see  that  the 
washing  comes  back  correct?" 

Colonel  Vandeleur  abandoned  tact. 

"I'm  afraid  the  King  will  be  seriously  annoyed," 
he  said.  "He  only  consented " 

"John's  annoyance,"  said  Prince  Alfred  firmly,  "is 
the  everlasting  bane  of  my  life.  Who  the  devil — 
I  mean,  if  John  is  annoyed  at  a  silly  thing  like  that, 
he  isn't —  Will  you,  clear  out,  Catkin,  and  do  as 
you're  told?" 

It  is  probable  that  Colonel  Vandeleur,  C.B.,  never 
offered  to  this  pleasant  world  a  more  disgusted  coun- 
tenance. 

"Then — may  Catkin  get  hold  of  my  fellow?"  he 
said. 

"Certainly— why?" 

"If  Catkin  goes,  I  hardly  see  myself  keeping 
Briggs." 

"Oh.  No — of  course.  You  mean  you  don't  want 
to  make  the  impression  of  effeminate  luxury  over  here 
any  more  than  I  do.  I  think  we're  both  right,  Vandy 

65 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

— let  'em  go  together.  They'll  hold  each  other's 
basins." 

"That's  settled  then."  It  was  now  Colonel  Van- 
deleur  whose  face  assumed,  as  he  continued  to  dis- 
pose of  letters,  the  shadow  of  gloom.  Prince  Al- 
fred, with  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  looked  out  upon 
the  President's  garden,  and  whistled,  much  out  of 
tune  but  with  enjoyment,  the  air  the  American  mi- 
crobe, industrious  within,  stimulated  his  lips  to  form. 
The  door  closed  upon  Catkin,  and  as  it  did  there  was 
a  little  thud  upon  the  floor  and  a  round,  dark  object 
rolled  out  into  the  room.  Prince  Alfred  picked  it 
up — a  regimental  button. 

"Off  my  tunic,"  he  said,  "I  noticed  it  was  dicky 
last  night.  Old  Catkin  has  brushed  it  loose.  I  won't 
give  it  to  him  now — he's  upset  enough  as  it  is,"  and 
he  slipped  the  button  into  his  pocket. 

Colonel  Vandeleur,  gnawing  his  mustache,  emitted 
an  indistinct  "Haw,"  in  reply.  He  was  looking  out 
trains  for  the  two  servants,  writing  checks,  and  re- 
membering the  necessity  for  tact. 

"They'll  only  just  do  it,"  he  said.  "I  can't  un- 
derstand the  reason  for  the  tremendous  hurry,  Prince. 
There's  a  Cunarder  every  week,  thank  Heaven." 

"You  forget  the  Duchess  of  Altenburg's  telegram, 
Colonel.  I  am  afraid  she  would  be  seriously  an- 
noyed if  I  did  not  obey  at  once.  And  I  never  was  in 
such  a  hurry  in  my  life  as  I  am  to  get  rid  of  Catkin." 

66 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Colonel  Vandeleur  permitted  himself  to  smile. 
"Have  it  your  own  way,"  he  said,  and  thought  of 
something  pleasanter.  "Well,  we  saw  some  very 
fair  specimens  of  the  American  rose  last  night.  On 
the  whole  we  can  report  favorably  to  the  President." 

"Report,"  said  Alfred  frowning.  The  word 
seemed  ill  chosen.  "Will  he  expect  a  report?" 

"Perhaps  we'd  better  make  it  an  anthem." 

Do  what  he  would  the  Colonel  could  not  express 
himself  in  his  usual  happy  manner.  Below  his  smile 
Briggs  undisguisedly  rankled. 

Prince  Alfred  again  squared  his  back  to  the  room 
and  looked  out  of  the  window. 

"I  take  it,"  went  on  Colonel  Vandy,  "that  the 
little  Lanchester  lady — do  you  remember  her? — is 
almost  a  daughter  of  the  house.  I  would  give  her 
last  night's  honors,  myself.  Something  so  fresh 
about  her.  Stands  up  on  her  stem.  Girls  run  far 
too  much  to  the  tea-rose  variety  over  here,  in  my 
opinion." 

"I  do  remember  her,"  replied  Alfred,  with  a  glance 
of  cool  displeasure.  "But  why  'little'  ?  Quite  the 
reverse,  I  should  say." 

Vandy,  aware  that  he  had  blundered,  hastened  to 
make  amends. 

"Delightfully  intelligent  anyway"  he  went  on,  in 
another  tone,  "I  was  fortunate  enough  to  take  her 
in  to  supper.  Rotten  luck,"  he  observed  with  de- 

67 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

tachment,  "that  your  fate  on  these  occasions  should 
always  be  the  oldest  and  the  ugliest." 

"I  did  well  enough  last  night,"  Prince  Alfred  con- 
tended. "Mrs.  Phipps  isn't  old,  and  she  is  rather 
pretty  than  otherwise.  And  I'm  very  fond  of  her. 
She  tells  me  lots  of  things." 

"I  heard  a  good  deal  that  was  new  to  me  myself, 
last  night,"  replied  Vandy,  "mostly  about  you,  dear 
boy.  I  hadn't  guessed  half  your  splendid  qualities, 
it  seemed.  Fearfully  excited  my  young  lady  was, 
about  that  Yankee  kit  of  yours.  Upon  my  word  at 
one  moment  I  thought  she  was  going  to  burst  into 
tears.  These  American  girls  are  all  rather  inclined 
to  be  sentimental.  Cold,  you  know,  for  all  that." 

"The  Imperial  never  was  a  Yankee  kit.  If  it  had 
been,  I  couldn't  have  worn  it,"  Prince  Alfred  told 
him.  "But — did  it  really  interest  her?  She  didn't 
say  anything  about  it  to  me.  We — we  discussed 
mutual  friends." 

Colonel  Vandy  had  never  in  all  his  life  flattered  so 
successfully.  The  young  man's  eyes  had  brightened, 
and  his  head  was  up. 

"Well,  she  hardly  would,  you  know.  Mutual — 
Really?" 

"Yes,  I  say,  Vandy,"  he  turned  round  sharply. 
"How  much  longer  have  we  got  here?  Three  days? 
She's  a  sort  of  god-cousin  of  mine  you  know.  I'd 
like  her  asked  to  stay.  Couldn't  you  arrange  it?" 

68 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

Colonel  Vandeleur  dropped  his  fountain  pen  and 
stared  for  an  instant,  hard.  Before  the  steadiness 
of  the  look  that  returned  his,  a  certain  amusement  in 
his  eye  sheathed  itself. 

"Charmin'  addition  to  the  party,"  he  said,  "but 

whether  it's  possible At  home,  of  course,  as  easy 

as  winkin'.  But  over  here — you  never  can  tell. 
However,  if  you  find  her  amusing,  I'll  have  a  shot 
at  it." 

"I  don't  find  her  amusing,"  replied  Prince  Alfred, 
again  giving  his  attention  to  the  grounds  of  the  White 
House,  "if  you  mean  larky,  or  comic.  I'd  like  to 
know  her  better,  that's  all.  I  wish  you  would  go 
and  see  about  it  now,  Vandy." 


CHAPTER    VII 

VANDY  went.     As  he  went  he  quite  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  the  thing,  or  thought  he  did 
— into  the  spirit  of  this  unexpected  "lark"  of 
Prince  Alfred's.     Prince  Alfred  was  so  little  given 
to  larks  of  any  sort — it  made  the  post  of  his  equerry 
a  trifle  dull.     He  hummed  as  he  went,  with  a  smile 
of  amusement,  the  refrain  of  a  delightful  old  ballad, 

"Oh,  the  pretty,  pretty  creature! 
When  I  next  do  meet  her — " 

He  had  found  in  his  Prince  a  touch  of  human 
nature  as  he  best  understood  it,  and  the  find  gave  him 
real  pleasure. 

Colonel  Vandeleur  had  always  knocked  about  a 
good  deal  with  royalty,  was  familiar  with  its  habits, 
and  knew  its  privileges  by  heart.  It  was  upon  him 
that  the  Tommy  Thursbys,  who  entertained  more  of 
the  Family  for  longer  and  more  celebrated  periods 
than  any  other  commoners  in  the  kingdom,  depended 
to  make  each  visit  a  more  brilliant  success  than  the 

70 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

last.  His  name  went  almost  automatically  upon 
house-party  lists  which  had  to  be  submitted,  and  he 
invariably  arrived  two  days  before.  His  detractors 
said  of  him  that  he  could  tell  you  in  his  sleep  the 
brand  of  cigarette  smoked  by  every  crowned  head  in 
Europe.  But  he  had  not  many  detractors;  he  was 
too  genial  and  made  himself  too  broad  an  allowance 
for  the  weaknesses  of  his  fellows. 

His  present  mission  would  have  been  simple 
enough  in  England.  "Half  a  word,"  as  he  said  to 
himself,  "would  have  been  enough  there."  In  Eng- 
land these  things  were  understood.  Here,  doubt- 
less, he  might  have  to  explain.  He  was  confident  of. 
being  able  to  explain,  of  being  able  to  place  the 
little  suggestion  in  an  attractive  light.  It  must  be, 
of  course,  the  merest  suggestion,  the  lightest  hint. 
That  would  be  as  much,  in  all  probability,  as  would 
be  necessary. 

"Hang  it  all,"  said  Colonel  Vandeleur  to  himself, 
"it  is  a  compliment." 

Yet  he  found  himself  wondering  as  he  made  his 
way  to  Mrs.  Phipps's  morning-room,  where  they  told 
him  he  would  find  her,  exactly  how  he  would  put  it. 

He  went  straight  to  Mrs.  Phipps.  Already  he 
had  found  that  Mrs.  Phipps  preferred  the  direct 
method,  did  not  at  all  appreciate  having  suggestions 
conveyed  to  her  by  the  President's  aides-de-camp, 
whose  duties  seemed  to  Colonel  Vandeleur  much  less 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

domestic  than  they  might  be,  than  they  ought  to  be. 
None  of  the  four  ever  seemed  to  exercise  the  least 
supervision  over  the  butler;  Mrs.  Phipps  had  her- 
self proposed  to  admonish  the  cook  when  the  cus- 
tard went  wrong  at  luncheon.  And  when  he,  Vandy, 
had  asked  Calder  for  some  plain  Windsor  soap  for 
the  Prince  he  got  it,  but  the  fellow  had  looked  at 
him.  What  was  the  fellow  there  for  if  not  to  see 
the  guests  of  the  house  got  the  kind  of  soap  they 
were  accustomed  to?  He  had  an  intuition  that  it 
would  be  no  use,  no  manner  of  use,  to  mention  this 
whim  of  the  Prince  about  Miss  Lanchester  to  Major 
Calder.  Calder  would  bungle  it.  He  would  go 
straight  to  Mrs.  Phipps.  Ladies  were  much  more 
understanding  in  such  matters.  Yet  how  the  devil 
should  he  put  it? 

"But  gallantly  will  I  tre-eat  her, 
But  gallantly  will  I  treat  her, 
Oh!  the  pretty,  pretty,  pretty  pretty — " 

"Why,  come  in,  Colonel  Vandeleur.  Bring  your 
chair  right  over  here,  under  the  fan.  The  Prince 
understood,  didn't  he,  my  not  being  at  breakfast  this 
morning?  The  President  absolutely  forbade  it." 

"I'm  immensely  surprised  and  immensely  gratified, 
dear  lady,  to  find  you  up  at  all,  after  your  most 
charming,  most  successful,  but,  alas,  no  doubt  most 
fatiguing  entertainment  last  night.  The  Prince  was 

72 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

enchanted.  I  have  never  known  him  so  happy  at  a 
dance." 

Mrs.  Phipps  sat,  with  a  little  gesture  of  dignity, 
slightly  straighten 

"Ah  well,"  she  said,  "that's  an  immense  reward, 
Colonel.  I  thought  Prince  Alfred  seemed  to  be  en- 
joying himself.  It  was  certainly  our  privilege  to 
make  him  do  so — in  that  uniform.  Colonel  Vande- 
leur,  I  want  to  tell  you — I  was  never  so  touched  by 
anything  in  my  whole  life.  And  the  President, 
though  he's  not  a  person  to  say  much,  feels  exactly 
as  I  do  about  it." 

Colonel  Vandeleur's  face  bore  no  trace  of  even  a 
cipher  telegram.  He  looked  gratified,  and  crossed 
his  legs. 

"It  was  the  dear  fellow's  own  thought,"  he  said. 
"I  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it — though  I 
daresay  I  shall  get  the  credit  of  having  had  a  good 
deal.  He  does  seem,  bless  his  heart,  to  have  made 
a  pleasant  impression.  He  has  also  apparently  re- 
ceived one,  Mrs.  Phipps." 

The  Colonel's  archness  was  so  obvious  that  Mrs. 
Phipps  must  have  smiled  whether  she  wanted  to  or 
not,  and  she  did  want  to,  being  full  of  natural  im- 
pulses. 

"If  the  Prince  has  been  expressing  any  particular 
admiration — "  Mrs.  Phipps  dimpled  for  her  country 
— "I  expect  it  was  for  Mrs.  Jack  Fergus.  Mrs.  Jack 

73 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

really  is  a  very  great  beauty,  and  she  was  looking 
quite  lovely  last  night." 

"She  certainly  was — "  Colonel  Vandeleur  often 
confessed  the  facility  with  which  he  picked  up  Ameri- 
can ways  of  putting  things.  "She  certainly  was,  Mrs. 
Phipps.  But  Prince  Alfred's  homage  was  laid  at 
the  feet  of  somebody  you  think  a  great  deal  more  of 
than  you  do  of  Mrs.  Jack  Fergus." 

"Colonel,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps  with  a  smile  which 
made  every  admission,  "I  should  have  hated  you  if 
you  had  said  Mrs.  Jack.  The  Prince  has  been  ad- 
miring my  Hilary.  How  could  he  help  it?" 

"How  could  anybody  help  it?"  The  Colonel's  air 
of  regret,  of  being  hopelessly  out-distanced,  though 
humorous,  was  full  of  the  most  acceptable  tact.  "And 
the  pretty  part  of  it  is,  Mrs.  Phipps,  that  Prince 
Alfred  has  practically  never  been  known  to  look  twice 
at  a  lady." 

"It's  very  sweet  of  him,"  Mrs.  Phipps  acknowl- 
edged, "because  he  must  have  seen  so  many  lovely 
girls." 

"I  take  it  that  he  is  no  less  attracted  by  her  char- 
acter. 'I  so  much  wish,'  he  said  to  me,  'that  I  might 
have  the  opportunity  of  knowing  her  better.'  ' 

Mrs.  Phipps  looked  the  least  bit  in  the  world  taken 
aback.  "How  nice  of  him,"  she  said  with  a  certain 
quietude. 

"And — it's  quite  my  own   idea,   dear  lady,   and 

74 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

please  don't  be  cross  with  me — I  wondered  whether 
you  wouldn't  perhaps  indulge  the  Prince  in  his  per- 
fectly natural  and  charming  desire  to  know  a  little 
more  of  American  young  people  of  Miss  Lanchester's 
type,  and  perhaps — if  it  isn't  too  much  to  ask — have 
her  here  for  the  remainder  of  his  visit.  Remember 
it's  quite  my  own  idea,"  he  added,  meeting  her  round 
eyes. 

"Have  Hilary  here?"  she  said  slowly.  "But — but, 
Colonel  Vandeleur,  what  would  people  say?" 

"What  could  they  say,  dear  lady,  except  that  you 
very  sweetly  wanted  to  add  to  Prince  Alfred's  visit 
the " 

"And  the  newspapers !  Colonel,  you  don't—- 
you've forgotten •-" 

Colonel  Vandeleur  pursed  his  lips  a  little  con- 
temptuously. "I  should  not  mind  about  the  news- 
papers," he  said.  "Besides,  why  should  they  find 
anything  remarkable  in  it?  She  ought  not  to  be 
asked  alone  of  course — some  other  lady — such  things 
are  so  easy.  And  Miss  Lanchester  has  often  stayed 
here  before." 

"But  to  ask  her  while  the  Prince  is  in  the  house — 
after  the  dance " 

"They  would  surely  understand  that  he  might  wish 
to  obtain  the  most  delightful  impression  possible 
of  American  young  ladies — or  that  you  might  wish  it 
for  him." 

75 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

By  this  time  Colonel  Vandeleur  felt  that  he  really 
must  carry  his  point.  Dear  Mrs.  Phipps's  opposition 
was  too  unexpected,  too  unreasonable,  too — well 
really,  too  provincial. 

"I  am  afraid  they  would  couple  it  with  the  name 
of  only  one  American  young  lady,"  Mrs.  Phipps  told 
him  with  a  flushed  and  troubled  face. 

"I  quite  see  your  point.  But,  my  dear  Mrs. 
Phipps,  between  ourselves,  as  man  and  woman  of  the 
world " 

"That,  Colonel  Vandeleur,  I  am  not,  and  never 
shall  be.  I  must  beg  you  not  to  call  me  a  woman  of 
the  world.  It  does  not  flatter  me,  Colonel  Vande- 
leur, at  all." 

The  Colonel  leaned  forward  with  an  impressive 
gentle  smile,  and  a  confidential  gesture. 

"You  can  hardly,  dear  madam,  be  the  wife  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  not  be  a  woman 
of  the  world.  In  the  best  sense — in  the  very  best 
sense  of  the  term." 

"That's  just  where  you  make  a  mistake,  Colonel. 
I  didn't  marry  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
I  came  along  with  him.  And  I  am  only  too  well 
aware  how  far  I  fall  short  of  filling  the  position  as  it 
should  be  filled.  But  nothing  would  make  me  believe 
that  any  woman  of  the  world  would  on  that  account 
fill  it  better." 

"Dear  lady,"  soothed  the  Colonel,  "dear  lady,  no 

76 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

woman  of  any  sort  would  fill  it  better.  But  don't 
— now  please  don't  misunderstand  this  little  pleasure, 
this  little  treat,  that  I  thought  I  might  try  to  secure 
for  the  Prince.  If  you  know  what  an  innocent  young 
a — what  an  absolute  baby  he  is,  you  would  let  them 
play  blind  man's  buff  together,  and  not  have  a  mo- 
ment's anxiety." 

"You  needn't  tell  me  anything  about  the  Prince, 
Colonel  Vandeleur.  I  have  the  greatest  affection 
and  admiration  for  him.  But  I've  got  to  think  of 
Hilary,  and  I  don't  think  I  could  expose  her  to — 
Suppose  she  fell  in  love  with  him." 

Colonel  Vandeleur  rose,  with  just  a  hint  of  dis- 
pleased dignity.  "My  dear  friend,  she  is  much  too 
sensible  a  girl.  Such  things  only  happen  where  they 
are  morganatically  possible." 

"I  know,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps  in  some  confusion. 
"Countries  in  Europe  ending  in  'ania.'  Still — I'll 
speak  to  the  President.  I  really  can't  decide  by  my- 
self." 

Colonel  Vandeleur  had  approached  the  door. 

"Please  dismiss  it  from  your  mind,  Mrs.  Phipps," 
he  said  kindly.  "We  mustn't,  after  all,  spoil  our 
young  man.  An  occasional  disappointment  is  good 
for  him." 

Mrs.  Phipps,  uncertain  and  unhappy,  made  a  step 
or  two  in  pursuit. 

"But  what  will  you  say  to  the  Prince?"  she  en- 

77 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

treated.  "I'm  afraid  I've  been  perfectly  silly  and 
ridiculous,  Colonel  Vandy.  Please " 

"There  will  be  no  need  to  mention  it  to  him," 
Vandy  replied.  "You  forget  that  it  is  quite  my 
own  idea,  a  mere  butterfly  thought,  dear  lady.  Don't 
let  it  disturb  you,  I  beg,"  and  the  door  closed  upon 
him. 

Mrs.  Phipps,  left  alone,  became  an  immediate 
prey  to  reaction.  She  sat  down  desolately  beside 
the  buhl  table  and  leaned  her  head  upon  her  hand. 
Had  she,  after  all,  just  shied  away  from  the  idea, 
in  nervous  and  ridiculous  fear  of  some  bogey  that 
wasn't  there?  Had  she  shown  herself  a  silly  prude 
and  prig  toward  the  most  innocent  and  genial  of 
initiatives?  A  prude  and  prig  dear  Mrs.  Phipps  was 
in  mortal  fear  of  being  considered,  conscious  as  she 
was  of  an  almost  ungovernable  bias  toward  things 
sweet  and  straight  and  without  reproach.  She  took 
little  ineffective  measures  sometimes  to  show  that 
she  wasn't  really  to  be  so  frightfully  easily  shocked 
as  people  might  imagine,  measures  which  the  Presi- 
dent observed  with  an  amused  twinkle  and  chaffed 
her  unmercifully  about  afterwards.  James  would 
probably  laugh  at  her  scruples  about  this.  He  had 
been  so  anxious  that  the  Prince  should  meet  Hilary 
and  should  admire  her.  Besides,  what  was  the  use 
of  consulting  James?  She  would  be  certain  not  to 
agree  with  him,  and  do  the  other  thing.  No — she 

78 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

did  wish  she  knew  how  to  act;  but  it  had  better  be 
on  her  own  responsibility.  She  would  not  consult 
James. 

"Then  nobody  will  be  to  blame  but  me,"  she  said 
resolutely. 

There  was  also  Hilary's  point  of  view.  Of  what 
might  she  not  be  depriving  Hilary?  Of  a  pleasant, 
distinguished  friendship,  most  valuable  perhaps,  in 
later  years,  if  it  ripened  and  mellowed,  leading  to 
all  sorts  of  interesting  things.  Useful  perhaps,  to 
Hilary's  children.  Of  course  she  must  tell  Hilary, 
later.  What  if  she  looked  reproach?  The  little 
tribute  would  be  dead  then,  like  a  pressed  flower. 
Why  should  she  not  have  the  flower  fresh,  with  the 
dew  on  it? 

"Absurd!"  said  Mrs.  Phipps  aloud.  "He's  the 
merest  boy,  and  Hilary's  head  would  have  been 
turned  long  ago  if  compliments  could  do  it.  She 
shall  decide  for  herself.  And  I  shall  tell  her,"  added 
Mrs.  Phipps  firmly,  "exactly  how  it  is." 

"My  darling  child,"  she  wrote,  looked  at  the 
words,  and  took  another  sheet.  Unconsciously  she 
found  them  too  maternal  and  impressive.  "Darling 
Hil"  looked  better,  less  portentous. 

Colonel  Vandeleur  has  been  worrying  my  life  out  this 
morning  to  get  you  to  come  and  stay  with  us  for  the  rest  of 
the  Prince's  visit.  It  seems  that  H.R.H.  condescends  to 
wish  to  know  you  better.  (I  don't  want  to  be  satirical,  for 

79 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

he's  a  dear  boy,  but  I  suppose  I  am  not  used  to  royal  ways, 
though  Colonel  Vandy  declares  that  he  alone  is  responsible, 
and  I  tell  myself  that  he  wouldn't  be  human  if  he  didn't 
wish  to  know  you  better,  and  why  should  a  Prince  be  less 
than  human?  Most  are  more.)  So  I  write  to  tell  you, 
darling,  that  you  have  been  approved — and  will  you  come? 
You  must  decide.  You  know  our  house  and  hearts  are  al- 
ways happy  and  glad  to  hold  you.  And  we  will  try  not  to 
be  too  jealous.  Now  fly  to  the  arms  of 

Your  ever  devoted 

MUMKINS. 

"I  won't  read  it  over,"  she  said,  "or  I  will  change 
my  mind."  Nor  did  she  add  any  of  the  dozen  post- 
scripts which  presented  themselves  to  her.  The  let- 
ter went  by  hand,  with  all  despatch,  and  Mrs.  Phipps 
curled  herself  upon  a  sofa  to  await  the  reply.  Pres- 
ently she  rang. 

"Tell  Martha  to  get  Miss  Hilary's  room  ready," 
she  said.  "I  am  expecting  her  for  a  few  days." 

Then  she  picked  up  a  book  and  turned  a  page  or 
two,  but  put  it  down  every  few  minutes  to  smile  at 
the  picture  of  Hilary,  reading  her  letter.  "It  is  a 
compliment,"  she  agreed  with  Colonel  Vandeleur, 
"when  all  is  said  and  done." 

The  reply  came  with  a  quickness  that  quite  startled 
Mrs.  Phipps.  She  opened  it,  having  just  decided 
that  on  the  first  night  at  dinner  Hilary  should 
wear  her  rose  brocade,  with  eager  fingers.  And  she 
read: 

80 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

BELOVEDEST, 

How  can  you  think  that  He  wishes  to  be  condescending! 
How  can  you  think  that  he  wishes  to  be  anything  but  ex- 
actly what  he  is — simply  and  utterly  adorable!  You  may 
lay  my  heart  at  his  feet  if  you  like.  But  Oh,  my  love,  I 
don't  want  him  to  know  me  any  better!  And  papa  has 
wired  that  he  will  be  in  New  York  in  a  week,  and  that  I  am 
to  go  at  once  to  Moose  Lick  and  get  the  house  ready.  I  go 
to-night  at  six.  Belovedest — understand! 

Your  own 

HIL. 

Mrs.  Phipps  flushed  and  paled  and  flushed  again. 

"But  it  has  happened  already !"  she  cried,  and  read 
a  second  time. 

"It  has  certainly  happened  already — but  not  in  the 
least  seriously,"  she  smiled  with  reassurance.  "She 
wouldn't  write  like  that  if —  But  what  a  risk  I  ran !" 

The  Prince  and  Colonel  Vandeleur  were  lunching 
with  the  Secretary  for  the  Navy.  She  would  have  to 
wait  till  tea-time,  which  she  did  with  impatience.  She 
quite  wanted,  why,  she  didn't  ask  herself,  to  let 
Colonel  Vandeleur  know  what  had  happened. 
Vandy  luckily,  when  five  o'clock  came,  gave  her  an 
early  chance,  begging  for  cream. 

"I  thought  better  of  it  after  all,  Colonel  Vandy," 
she  said,  looking  up  at  him  over  the  jug.  "I  wrote 
to  Miss  Lanchester  suggesting  that  she  should  make 
us  a  little  visit  just  now.  And  she  is  immensely  sorry, 
but  she  can't.  Her  father — the  ex-President,  you 

81 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

know — is  returning  from  Alaska,  and  has  wired  to  her 
to  get  their  place  in  the  mountains  ready  as  soon  as 
she  can.  She  leaves  this  afternoon." 

"Poor  dear  girl — what  rotten  luck,"  observed  the 
Colonel,  possessing  himself  of  a  sandwich. 

"I  think  she  will  be  rather  glad  to  get  out  of  the 
heat,"  his  hostess  told  him.  "And  she  is  always 
rather  anxious  about  her  father  until  Dr.  Morrow 
looks  him  over." 

"Dr.  Morrow,"  repeated  Colonel  Vandeleur. 

"The  famous  Dr.  Morrow,  the  lung  specialist." 

"Never  heard  of  him  in  my  life." 

"He  doesn't  travel,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps  simply. 
"He  stays  right  here  and  cures  people.  He  cured 
Henry  Lanchester  when  he  had  his  great  breakdown, 
and  now  Mr.  Lanchester  spends  the  best  part  of  every 
summer  up  there  in  the  pine  woods.  He's  a  won- 
derful man,  Dr.  Morrow." 

"He  must  be,"  said  Vandy,  and  moved  away  to 
digest  Mrs.  Phipps's  information.  It  did  not  digest 
well,  and  when  he  thought  of  it  later,  in  conversation 
with  the  Prince,  it  had  changed  its  character. 

"By  the  way," -said  he,  "I  mentioned,  quite  as  my 
own  idea,  the  suggestion  that  Miss  Lanchester  should 
join  the  home  party  here.  But  I  was  too  late,  Prince. 
That  charming  girl  has  left  Washington  for  the  coun- 
try. Pity!" 

Prince  Alfred  half  turned  from  the  window  where 

82 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

he  was  again  wasting  time,  and  cocked,  as  it  were, 
an  ear  toward  the  Colonel. 

"I'm  sorry,"  he  said.  "Since  she's  not  coming, 
Vandy,  what  about  that  notion  of  yours  of  clearing 
out  a  day  earlier?  These  people  must  be  dead  sick 
of  us  by  now,  and  it  is  infernally  hot." 

"Right-o,"  said  Vandy.  "I'll  fix  it  up.  By  the 
way,  did  I  show  you  this?  It  came  by  the  second 
post  to-day." 

The  photograph  was  of  a  small  group  outside  a 
historic  English  country  house,  and  Colonel  Vande- 
leur  made  part  of  it.  So  did  Princess  Georgina, 
Duchess  of  Altenburg.  The  Duchess  had  graciously 
sent  the  picture  to  Colonel  Vandeleur. 

"Who  is  the  fair  girl  on  your  left?"  asked  the 
Prince. 

"Ah — may  I  see?  That  is  the  Archduchess  So- 
phia Ludovica.  She  was  staying  in  the  house — Lord 
Bannermore's  place  in  Kent.  Extraordinary  charm- 
ing girl — great  friend  of  the  Duchess." 

"Oh — is  it?"  said  Prince  Alfred  and  handed  back 
the  picture  to  the  trusted  friend  of  the  Duchess  of 
Altenburg,  who  wrote  by  return  to  say  that  His  Royal 
Highness  had  seen  the  group,  and  had  looked  twice, 
at  all  events,  at  a  certain  member  of  it. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

IT  was  at  Pittsburgh  that  it  happened,  just  a  fort- 
night later.    There  is  no  doubt,  as  was  at  once 
so  widely  said,  that  the  fortnight  had  been  an 
over-strenuous  one.     The  heat  in  New  York  had 
been  almost  as  bad  as  in  Washington,  record  tem- 
peratures for  the  time  of  year.     And  the  heat  had 
been  nothing  to  the  enthusiasm,  the  hospitality,  and 
the  extraordinary  temptations  in  the  way  of  interest- 
ing things  to  see. 

Colonel  Vandeleur  had  kept  his  influence  in  all 
social  matters;  the  Prince  had  been  very  docile  and 
only  too  desirous  to  exert  himself  to  be  agreeable 
in  any  quarter  indicated.  But  when  it  came  to  mat- 
ters in  which  Prince  Alfred  was  really  interested, 
when  it  was  a  question  of  how  many  hours  he  should 
spend  on  end  watching  experiments  at  the  Institute 
of  Applied  Electricity,  "messing  about,"  as  Vandy 
put  it,  with  the  newest  hydro-aeroplane  at  the  Avia- 
tion College,  or  listening  to  the  last  word  in  wireless, 
the  equerry  had  to  confess  himself  unable  to  restrain 
his  charge  in  any  way  whatever.  "He  wants  to  drink 

84 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  sea,"  was  Vandy's  explanation,  and,  as  Vandy 
had  no  special  desire  to  drink  anything  that  could  not 
be  mixed  in  a  glass,  it  was  rather  a  rueful  one.  Al- 
most the  only  respite  Vandy  knew  was  in  the  train, 
when  the  Prince  would  divide  his  time  in  their  Pull- 
man drawing-room  between  the  wide  flying  landscape 
and  impressive  advertisements  of  such  things  as  the 
Power-Transmitting  Unit  of  a  Milliken-Milwaukee 
Rear  Axle,  which  addressed  him  in  terms  he  found 
invigorating  even  when  he  did  not  understand  them. 

"It's  really  the  human  equation  back  of  the  whole," 
he  would  read  aloud.  "Of  course  it  is.  One  sees, 
Vandy,  that  it  must  be.  They  give  a  tremendous 
chance,  over  here,  don't  they,  to  the  human  equation  1" 
He  perpetually  harked  back  to  the  term.  It  began 
to  sum  up  the  fascination  America  had  for  him. 
The  human  equation  very  soon  bored  Vandy  to  ex- 
tinction. 

They  were  to  have  only  two  days  in  Pittsburgh,  and 
the  Prince  had  been  greatly  looking  forward  to  them. 

They  were  to  go  to  an  hotel,  Vandy  having  been 
obliged  to  rule  firmly  against  any  more  private  hos- 
pitality except  in  very  special  circumstances.  Vandy 
would  have  liked  to  skip  Pittsburgh  and  its  furnaces, 
but  the  Prince  would  skip  nothing.  He  was  so 
fatigued,  however,  that  Vandy  had  made  private  ar- 
rangements with  the  railway  to  stop  the  express  at 
a  suburban  platform  to  avoid  the  crowd;  and  from 

85 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

there  they  had  motored  quickly  to  their  hotel,  where 
they  dined  in  peace  and  went  to  bed. 

They  had  thought  too  little,  both  of  them,  of  the 
recent  return  of  Prince  Alfred's  cough,  which  he  had 
almost  lost  at  the  end  of  the  voyage.  His  cough  was 
an  old,  habitual  possession,  a  thing  other  people 
watched  and  worried  over,  a  bore  and  a  bogey  much 
at  the  service  of  his  Aunt  Georgina.  He  had  not 
even  bothered  about  the  usual  remedies;  indeed,  Cat- 
kin, when  he  remembered,  had  gone  off  with  the 
prescriptions,  but  it  didn't  matter  tuppence ;  medicine 
made  very  little  difference  one  way  or  the  other. 
There  was  a  great  deal  too  much  to  see  and  to  do 
to  worry  about  his  cough;  it  was  overborne  in  the 
rush  of  new  experiences.  He  hardly  noticed  it.  Nor 
for  that  matter  had  his  cough  been  particularly 
troublesome  the  night  before.  He  had  gone  to  bed 
dog  tired  and  slept  badly. 

Then  in  the  morning,  just  as  he  finished  shaving, 
he  had  a  sudden  tickling  bout  which  he  had  to  sit 
down  to,  and  a  moment  later  there  it  was  on  his 
handkerchief.  He  went  in  to  Vandy  with  the  bright- 
stained  thing  in  his  hand. 

"Cut  yourself,  dear  boy?"  asked  the  Colonel,  sus- 
pending his  own  razor. 

"Yes,  inside,"  the  Prince  told  him.  "They 
warned  me  about  this.  I'm  awfully  sorry,  Vandy, 
but  I'm  afraid  I  am  going  to  be  a" — he  coughed 

86 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

again,  and  the  handkerchief  showed  redder — "a  nui- 
sance," he  finished. 

"For  God's  sake  lie  down."  The  Colonel  was 
the  whiter  of  the  two. 

Prince  Alfred  fell  weakly  upon  the  disarranged 
bed  and  drew  his  legs  up  after  him.  Colonel  Van- 
deleur  dashed  to  the  telephone,  but  turned  his  head 
at  a  sound  from  the  bed.  The  Prince  was  waving 
one  hand  in  front  of  him. 

"Of  course  not,"  said  Vandy.  Then  he  spoke  into 
the  receiver.  "His  Royal  Highness  is  rather  over- 
tired this  morning  and  not  altogether  well.  Will 
you  kindly  give  me  the  address  of  the  leading  phy- 
sician here,  in  case  the  Prince  should  wish  to  see  one 
in  the  course  of  the  day?" 

He  listened  for  the  reply,  anxiously  watching  his 
charge,  and  Prince  Alfred  smiled  weakly  with  his 
eyes  at  his  equerry,  over  the  spotted  handkerchief. 

"Indeed!  On  the  next  floor.  Number  twenty- 
two.  Doctor  who  did  you  say?  Atkins?  Atkin- 
son; Henry  P.  Atkinson.  Thank  you  very  much. 
Shall  you  ring  him  up?  No;  no,  thanks.  I'll  see 
him,  if  necessary,  in  the  course  of  the  day.  In  now, 
do  you  say?  Oh,  yes;  thanks — thanks  very  much." 

"The  best  man  in  the  city,"  he  said  tearing  into  a 
coat.  "Don't  move  till  I  get  him,"  and  disappeared. 

By  noon  the  next  day  several  things  had  happened. 
87 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

The  hemorrhage,  under  the  treatment  of  the  luckily 
so  local  doctor,  had  ceased,  and  not  another  soul  knew 
anything  about  it.  Such  was  Dr.  Henry  P.  Atkin- 
son's remarkable  discretion,  a  man  with  the  firmest 
lips,  the  most  intrepid  eyes  and  the  squarest  shoulders 
our  travelers  had  so  far  seen;  a  splendid  fellow,  be- 
fore whom  death  must  often  have  receded,  with  an 
eye  on  those  shoulders.  His  manner  of  taking  his 
royal  patient  in  his  stride  won  Prince  Alfred's  con- 
fidence at  once.  Hardly  aware,  apparently,  that  his 
patient  represented  anything  but  a  rather  serious 
case,  Dr.  Henry  showed  himself  a  man,  a  brother, 
and  a  friend,  a  new  character  in  the  old  role  of  phy- 
sician-in-ordinary  and  subject.  Alfred  watched  his 
movements  about  the  room  with  lively  curiosity. 
"That  fellow  knows,"  he  said  to  Vandy. 

Dr.  Atkinson  saw  the  quick-gathering  reporters 
in  the  most  sympathetic  way.  The  Prince  was  suffer- 
ing from  exhaustion  due  to  the  heat  and  all  that  he 
had  insisted  on  doing  in  the  heat.  "From  what 
Colonel  Vandeleur,  his  equerry,  tells  me,  he's  been 
working  as  no  Englishman,  when  he  first  sets  foot  in 
this  country,  ought  to  work,"  said  Dr.  Atkinson. 
"They're  none  of  them  keyed  up  to  our  climate,  and 
the  Prince  has  been  trying  to  take  grand  opera  out 
of  himself  from  the  word  go.  Now  he's  got  to  sub- 
mit to  a  little  tuning."  Vandy  cabled  the  whole  truth 
to  the  King,  and  telegraphed  it  to  the  Duke  of  Cam- 

88 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

berley,  Governor-General  of  Canada,  Prince  Alfred's 
uncle,  who  was  still,  fortunately,  in  residence  at  Ot- 
tawa. There  at  all  events  he  would  find  temporary 
rest  and  quiet;  there  at  all  events  he  would  be  at 
home,  it  was  considered,  in  the  first  difficulty  and  con- 
sternation that  the  news  brought  with  it. 

Out  of  the  Pittsburgh  hotel  he  must  be  got  at  the 
earliest  moment  possible;  and  long  before  the  forty- 
eight  hours  of  absolute  stillness  enjoined  by  Dr.  At- 
kinson were  over,  an  aide-de-camp  and  the  viceregal 
doctor  had  arrived  from  Ottawa,  a  special  train  had 
been  arranged  with  an  invalid  carriage,  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  second  day  after  the  attack  the  little 
company  quickly  slipped  across  the  border. 

Sir  Randolph  Perry,  the  distinguished  specialist, 
left  Liverpool  the  same  day  by  the  Canadian  Mail 
for  Halifax,  taking  with  him,  in  the  second  class,  Cat- 
kin, silent  and  portentous,  and  two  firm,  high-colored, 
middle-aged  persons,  easily  recognizable  in  their  dis- 
creet traveling  dress  as  the  pick  and  flower  of  Lon- 
don's trained  nurses,  the  joint  choice  of  Sir  Randolph 
and  the  Princess  Georgina. 

The  Princess  had  seriously  urged  and  threatened 
going  herself;  it  seemed  that  her  duty  lay  very  plainly 
across  the  Atlantic.  It  was  not  until  she  was  able 
to  say,  "The  King  thinks  it  absolutely  inadvisable — 
practically  forbids  it,"  that  she  abandoned  the  idea, 
after  facing  it  with  fortitude  for  some  hours. 

89 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

The  King  had  pointed  out  that  Alfred  had  already 
one  aunt  at  his  bedside,  and  might  be  disturbed  by 
two;  also  that,  if  members  of  the  Family  went  hurry- 
ing over  to  him,  it  would  look  uncommonly  as  if 
"old  Alfie's"  last  hour  had  come,  which  nobody  had 
the  least  reason  to  suppose.  So  Sir  Randolph  went, 
and  Catkin  and  the  nurses,  and  Princess  Georgina 
sent  by  them  a  tin  of  remarkably  strengthening  ex- 
tract of  eggs,  which  had  done  her  an  immense  amount 
of  good  in  the  spring,  and  her  fondest  love. 

Alfred  stood  the  journey  well,  and  the  first  of 
the  bulletins  were  mere  colorless  continuations  of 
what  Dr.  Atkinson  had  told  the  reporters  in  Pitts- 
burgh. The  patient's  strength  was  "well  maintained." 
He  was  "taking  nourishment  at  regular  intervals." 
The  leading  journal  published  the  dietary.  He  was 
sleeping  well.  For  a  mere  case  of  nervous  exhaustion, 
partly  induced  by  the  heat,  there  were  almost  too 
many  bulletins,  and  their  tone  was  too  careful.  But 
there  was  all  Canada  alarmed  and  anxious,  very  much 
aware  of  her  rights  where  the  Family  was  concerned, 
and  wanting  to  know.  And  the  Duke  was  almost 
superstitiously  desirous  to  encourage  Canada's  con- 
cern and  desire  to  know,  and  was  well  aware  of  the 
importance  of  bulletins.  When  he  himself  had  been 
down  with  pneumonia  the  previous  spring,  such  a 
message  had  throbbed  out  every  hour  or  so,  and  the 
country  repaid  the  consideration  with  every  evidence 

90 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

of  appreciation.  The  bulletins  were  from  the  be- 
ginning a  little  heavily  worded;  but  the  first  thing 
that  aroused  suspicion  was  the  postponement  of  the 
Governor-General's  tour  in  the  West.  Dates  had 
been  made,  important  industrial  features  arranged, 
a  great  canal  waited  the  viceregal  pleasure  to  link 
the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  with  those  of  Hudson 
Bay.  The  country  had  made  up  its  mind  that  the 
Prince,  having  recovered  from  his  indisposition, 
would  abandon  the  high  temperatures  on  the  other 
side  of  the  line,  and  accompany  his  uncle  to  the  coast 
instead.  The  idea  had  been  discussed  everywhere 
except  at  Rideau  Hall.  Then  came  the  announce- 
ment that  the  Duke  would  postpone  his  tour.  Then, 
thick  and  fast,  hints  and  surmises,  statements  and 
denials,  the  body  of  rumor  that  rides  always  in 
advance  of  the  truth.  And  at  last  the  truth  itself. 

Prince  Alfred  was  suffering  from  a  serious  affec- 
tion of  the  lungs,  to  which  he  had  been  predisposed 
since  boyhood.  The  mischief  was  at  present  confined 
to  the  top  of  the  right  lung.  There  was  no  actual 
cavity,  but  a  general  softness  of  tissue.  The  results 
of  the  bacteriological  examination  were  withheld;  but 
the  information  was  definite  enough  without  them. 
Prince  Alfred,  in  the  old-fashioned  phrase,  had  con- 
sumption; a  perfectly  curable  case,  however,  with 
many  encouraging  features;  no  reason  why  His  Royal 
Highness's  lung  should  not  be  as  sound  as  a  bell  in, 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

say,  a  year.  The  new  treatment — the  treatment  was 
as  new  as  ever — had  produced  amazing  results  in 
cases  far  less  hopeful,  particularly  the  new  French 
treatment,  Dr.  Arcot's,  and  the  Americans  were  neck 
and  neck  with  him  on  different  lines.  With  one  ac- 
cord a  continent  bade  His  Royal  Highness  "buck 
up,"  and  with  another  it  performed  wonders  of  in- 
genuity in  making  immediate  arrangements  for  him. 

The  second  set  of  symptoms,  alarmingly  different, 
appeared  on  the  day  of  Sir  Randolph  Perry's  arrival 
from  England.  That  specialist  had  provisionally 
decided,  on  the  way  from  the  station,  that  his  patient 
should  leave  the  midsummer  climate  of  Ottawa  with- 
out an  unnecessary  hour's  delay.  As  he  drove  across 
the  bridge  over  the  tumbling  river  and  sniffed  the 
fine  spray  that  cooled  the  temperature  for  perhaps 
twenty  yards  there,  Sir  Randolph  said  to  himself  that 
it  was  the  first  tolerable  mouthful  of  air  he  had  had 
since  he  left  the  ship.  Sir  Randolph  was  round  and 
red  and  ample,  with  a  white  mustache  and  a  cheek 
that  quivered  with  well-being;  and  he  depended  very 
much  on  his  own  air,  or  the  variety  at  his  disposal 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  London. 

"I'll  get  him  home  by  the  next  ship,"  he  said  to 
himself,  while  refraining,  as  became  the  top  of  his 
profession,  from  uselessly  questioning  the  A.D.C. 
beside  him  in  the  motor.  Half  an  hour  later  he  had 
changed  his  mind.  It  was  inadvisable  to  move  the 

92 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Prince.  Absolute  rest  and  a  milk  diet.  General 
approval  of  the  line  taken  by  the  Duke's  man.  A 
slight  change  in  one  of  the  prescriptions.  Nothing 
radical,  but  we'll  try  a  bottle  of  this.  Watching. 
Fresh  air,  of  course ;  it  might  not  do  everything,  but 
you  could  do  nothing  without  it.  Was  a  tent  pos- 
sible? Well,  then,  a  tent.  Too  hot  in  the  middle 
of  the  day?  Then  pitch  the  tent  under  a  tree — a 
big,  three-roomed,  regulation  fellow,  thirty-eight  by 
twenty-seven.  Sir  Randolph  had  lived  in  one  him- 
self, on  maneuvers,  with  ideal  comfort  for  weeks  at 
a  time.  At  headquarters,  of  course,  in  play-fights. 
No  such  luxury  for  army  doctors  on  actual  service. 
It  transpired  that  Sir  Randolph's  career  had  begun 
only  when  most  people's  finished — in  his  years  of 
pensioned  retirement.  But  that  was  by  the  way. 

The  Governor-General,  as  they  enjoyed  their  cigar- 
ettes together  on  a  garden  seat  after  luncheon,  found 
Sir  Randolph  an  agreeable,  entertaining  fellow,  who 
smacked  very  pleasantly  of  town.  When  the  talk 
was  of  the  patient  he  showed  the  usual  professional 
reserve  in  a  manner  which  impressed  His  Excellency 
as  the  very  flower  of  professional  form.  He  said 
cheerful  things  with  his  mouth,  and  serious  ones  with 
his  eyes — eyes  which  rested  on  his  interlocutor  with 
the  effect  of  making  a  confidence.  His  Highness 
learned,  entirely,  if  he  didn't  mind,  between  them- 
selves, that  Sir  Randolph  had  disapproved  of  this 

93 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

tour  for  the  Prince  from  the  beginning.  "There  was 
crepitation  in  the  left  apex,  sir,  six  months  ago.  I 
heard  it.  The  other  fellows  couldn't.  Later,  when 
we  went  over  him  again,  for  some  reason  known  only 
to  God  Almighty,  it  had  disappeared.  I  couldn't 
insist,  in  face  of  that,  of  course."  As  to  the  Arcot 
treatment — well,  Sir  Randolph  had  an  open  mind. 
He  personally  did  not  feel  convinced  that  any  tuber- 
culo-toxin  had  wholly  established  itself.  But  there 
was  no  reason  why  it  shouldn't  be  given  a  trial.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  Sir  Randolph  had  the  serum  with 
him.  But  for  the  present,  till  this  immediate  pros- 
tration was  over,  nursing,  dieting,  watching.  The 
temperature  chart  was  puzzling,  and  Sir  Randolph 
spoke  gravely  of  the  new  symptoms  and  what  they 
might  establish.  It  would  be  easy,  however,  to  come 
too  soon  to  such  a  conclusion,  and  Sir  Randolph  pro- 
duced so  many  and  such  technical  reasons  to  the  con- 
trary that  the  Duke  went  away  to  wire  to  Windsor 
with  anxiety  sensibly  allayed. 

Sir  Randolph  himself  wrote  his  first  bulletin,  in 
which  he  made  no  mention  of  the  new  and  serious 
development  which,  in  his  opinion,  had  been  made 
in  the  course  of  the  royal  patient's  disease. 

Three  anxious  days  later,  after  dinner,  the  Duke, 
with  an  expression  of  concern,  took  the  London 
specialist  aside. 

"The  fact  is,  Perry,"  he  said,  "an  awkward  situ- 

94 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ation  has  arisen,  which  I  can  only  lay  before  you. 
My  nephew  has  expressed  a  wish — a  whim  I  consider 
it,  but  he  puts  it  very  strongly — to  see  the  fellow  who 
looked  after  him  the  other  day  in  Pittsburgh.  Atkin- 
son, I  think  his  name  is.  Seems  he  has  taken  an 
extraordinary  fancy  to  the  fellow.  Now  would 


"Let  him  come,  sir.  By  all  means  let  him  come," 
responded  Sir  Randolph  with  cordial  tolerance,  "so 
long  as  it's  understood  /  haven't  asked  for  him.  Un- 
less you  yourself,  sir,  would  be  better  satisfied 
to " 

"Lord,  no!  I  never  heard  of  the  fellow  before. 
But  if  it  would  afford  my  poor  nephew  any  satisfac- 
tion  " 

"By  all  means,"  said  Sir  Randolph.  "I  perfectly 
understand.  By  all  means." 

His  Highness  put  a  friendly  hand  under  the  doc- 
tor's elbow.  "It's  very  good  of  you,  Perry,"  he  said. 
"I  don't,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  like  to  deny  the  boy." 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE  Military  Secretary  sent  for  Dr.  Atkinson, 
but  there  was  a  friend  for  whom  Prince  Al- 
fred sent  himself. 

Many  motors  and  carriages  had  come  and  gone 
along  the  wooded  drive  to  Rideau  Hall,  and  the  sen- 
tries on  duty  paid  little  attention  to  the  taxicab  that 
slid  up  behind  the  Chief  Justice's  big  limousine,  or 
to  the  dusty  young  man  who  got  out  of  it,  until  he 
addressed  one  of  them. 

"How  can  I  get  this  taken  in  to  the  Prince?"  he 
asked. 

"This"  was  his  card.  His  way  of  speaking  was 
direct  and  businesslike,  without  either  a  pleasant  or 
a  distant  affectation,  and  the  guard,  who  was  a  Cock- 
ney, looked  at  him  as  if  he  took  a  little  too  much  for 
granted. 

"You'll  find  His  Royal  'Ighness's  visitors'  book 
just  inside  the  door,  sir,"  he  replied,  and  looked  in 
front  of  him  with  a  rigidity  that  said  plainly  what 
was  his  business  and  what  was  not. 

The  inquirer  went  up  the  steps,  and,  as  he  glanced 

96 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

about  him  at  the  top  of  them,  a  young  man  in  uniform 
came  out  of  the  aides'  room  into  the  hall.  He  also 
indicated  the  visitors'  book.  "I'm  afraid  the  Prince 
cannot  see  you,"  he  said,  "but  won't  you  write  your 
name?  The  book  is  taken  to  him  every  evening." 

"I  will  with  pleasure,"  said  the  new  arrival,  who 
had  the  air  of  having  come  straight  from  the  train. 
Indeed,  a  suitcase  proclaimed  it  on  the  taxi  beside 
the  driver.  "But  I  think  Prince  Alfred  expects  me. 
I  had  a  telegram  from  him  yesterday." 

"Oh,  then,  of  course — "  said  Captain  Grinling. 
"Er — might  I  ask  your  name?  And  will  you  come 
this  way?" 

He  took  the  visitor,  with  an  air  of  mingled  con- 
straint and  deference,  into  the  aides'  room  and  left 
him  there  in  the  company  of  an  Irish  terrier  who  did 
all  he  could  to  be  polite. 

After  a  perceptible  time  he  returned,  accompanied 
by  Colonel  Vandeleur,  who  held  out  a  winning  hand. 

"Mr.  Youghall,  I  believe.  Mr.  Youghall  is  a 
college  friend  of  the  Prince,  Grinling.  Prince  A1-: 
fred  is  much  looking  forward  to  seeing  you,  Mr. 
Youghall,  but  you  won't  mind  my  telling  you,  I  know, 
that  a  great  exception  has  been  made;  he  is  allowed 
no  visitors.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  none  of  us  knew 
of  his  having  summoned  you.  And  I  must  beg  of 
you — you  will  understand,  I  know — to  be  very  quiet 
and — very  brief." 

97 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

They  were  walking  through  the  house  as  he  spoke. 
Youghall  remembered  afterward  a  procession  of 
rooms.  He  also  remembered  the  swinging  of 
Colonel  Vandeleur's  sword  as  he  led  the  way,  and 
his  creaseless  tunic  and  general  look  of  fine  feather. 
Already,  by  the  mere  person  of  the  equerry  on  duty, 
formal,  pleasant  and  distant,  he  felt  relegated  and 
prescribed  to  his  place.  A  little  daunting  chill  fell 
upon  his  eagerness. 

"I  hope — "  he  hesitated. 

"There  has  been  no  further  return  of  the  hemor- 
rhage, but  His  Royal  Highness  is  naturally  very 
weak.  Sir  Randolph  thinks  it  unlikely  that  we  can 
get  him  home  before  the  end  of  the  month.  This 
way.  He  is  camped  out  here,  day  and  night." 

They  stepped,  as  he  spoke,  out  of  a  French  win- 
dow into  the  garden.  Beyond  the  flower-beds,  in  a 
shady  spot  where  the  trees  began,  Youghall  saw  a 
group  of  tents,  before  one  of  them  a  couple  of 
stationary  tunics  that  challenged  the  red  of  the  roses. 

The  daunting  chill  crept  higher  about  his  heart. 
He  answered  Vandeleur's  admonitions  with  a  me- 
chanical, "Oh,  yes — of  course;  I  quite  understand," 
but  he  could  not  have  repeated  them.  The  guard 
before  the  tent  stood  ironical  in  the  light  of  the  fear 
within  it.  Wasn't  he  already  far  enough  away  from 
them  all — dear  old  "Cakes"?  Vandeleur's  very 
stride,  along  the  path  beside  him,  conveyed  some- 

98 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

thing  perfunctory  and  unfeeling.  Youghall  had  a 
sense,  too,  that  he  was  keeping  back  things.  These 
superior  words,  for  all  their  sound  of  deep  concern, 
were  telling  no  more  than  was  said  in  the  printed 
bulletin  at  the  gate.  "Terrible  shock  to  the  King," 
were  the  last  of  them  that  Youghall  heard  as  they 
passed  the  saluting  sentries  and  Vandeleur  gently 
pushed  open  the  fly-screen  that  had  replaced  the  flap 
of  the  inner  wall  of  the  tent. 

Youghall,  entering  behind  him,  saw  nothing  be- 
yond his  uniformed  person  but  the  end  of  the  bed, 
as  the  equerry  made  two  steps  toward  it  and  said 
with  precision:  "Mr.  Arthur  Youghall,  sir." 

Then  he  stepped  aside  and  back,  and  at  the  same 
moment  Youghall  had  the  impression  of  a  nurse's 
figure  disappearing  through  the  wall  of  the  tent 
beyond.  But  all  he  truly  saw  was  the  white  face 
on  the  pillow  with  the  darkness  round  the  eyes  and 
that  straight  black  look  about  the  lips,  like  a  beauti- 
ful, blurred  medieval  mask.  It  was  the  beauty  of 
it  and  the  blurring  that  cried  out  first  and  so  caught 
Youghall  about  the  heart  that  he  stood  silent  beside 
the  bed,  grasping  the  hand  that  came  out  to  him,  and 
fighting  to  keep  his  mouth  from  the  betrayal  of  tears. 

The  face  on  the  pillow  smiled  and  spoke;  some- 
thing familiar  came  back.  "Thank  you  so  much  for 
writing,  Youghall,"  said  Prince  Alfred.  "Your  let- 
ter— bucked  me  up  no  end  for  the  time.  Don't 

99 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

talk,  old  chap.  Let  me.  There's  so  awfully  little 
time.  Vandy  made  me  promise — not  more  than 
ten  minutes.  I  wanted  to  see  you,  so  I  got  Catkin 
to  wire."  He  pointed  to  a  chair,  and,  as  Youghall 
took  it,  made  a  gesture  that  he  should  pull  it  closer, 
closer  still.  "Catkin  is — perfectly  invaluable,  Youg- 
hall. He  does  as  I  tell  him.  The  others  all  seem 
to  think  I'm  here  to  take  orders.  Look  here,  Youg- 
hall— I'm  not  going  to  get  better,  you  know." 

Youghall's  face  quieted  and  straightened.  He 
leaned  forward  and  knotted  his  hands  round  his  knee. 

"Not  so  fast,  dear  old  man.  Not  so  fast,  surely. 
You  think  you  won't.  Well,  you  mustn't  think  you 
won't,  of  course,  if  you  want  to." 

"Thinking  won't  alter  it.  I'll  stagger  back  to 
England,  and — I  don't  mind  dying  in  itself.  It's  the 
beastly  public  way  I'll  have  to  do  it  that  I  hate  to 
think  of.  And  please  don't  contradict  me,  Youghall. 
I  know  you  want  to  buck  me  up  and  all  that,  but  there 
isn't  time.  Just  accept  that  I'm  not  going  to  get 
better,  and  we  can  get  on." 

Youghall  nodded,  with  his  face  in  arms. 

"You  know  I  was  in  Washington.  I  stayed  with 
the  Phippses — dear  people.  Of  the  very  best. 
President,  as  you  know,  Mr.  Phipps  happens  to  be, 
and  a  jolly  good  president,  too,  I  should  say.  There 
was  a  girl  there — a  great  friend  of  theirs " 

Prince  Alfred  stopped  and  searched  the  face  of 

100 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

his  brother  man  for  some  hint  of  consternation.  It 
did  not  change,  except  to  grow  braver  and  kinder, 
nor  did  Youghall  speak.  "You  might  help  a  fellow 
out." 

"An  unusual  sort  of  girl?" 

"I  thought  so — very.  We  became  friends  and  I 
should  have  liked  to  know  her  better.  But  her  peo- 
ple lugged  her  off  or  something,  and  it  couldn't  be 
done.  So  that's  all — as  it  should  be,  no  doubt.  But 
I  have  a  notion  that  I'd  like  to  be  remembered — do 
you  see,  Youghall  ? — by  that  particular  girl — and  I've 
hit  on  a  way  to  do  it.  I  want  you  to  take  something 
and  give  it  to  her  and  just  say,  'He  thinks  you  might 
like  to  keep  this.'  Don't  make  any  fuss.  Just  say 
I  sent  it  on  the  chance.  And  she's  not  to  bother  to 
write  or  anything.  You  will  do  that?" 

"Yes,"  said  Youghall,  "of  course;  I  will  do  that." 
He  waited,  all  tenderness,  for  the  name,  but  it  did 
not  immediately  come. 

"Her  father  was  once  president  and  she  lost  her 
mother  when  she  was  very  young,"  Prince  Alfred 
went  on,  looking  out  where  the  sun  blazed  on  the 
firs  and  the  waving  maples,  and  smiling  to  himself. 

"Yes,"  said  Youghall,  and  looked  out,  too,  at  the 
maples. 

"I'm  afraid  it  may  be  some  trouble,  for  I  haven't 
the  least  idea  where  she  is,  but  I  hope  you  won't  mind. 
You  and  Longworth  were  the  only  ones  I  could  ask, 

101 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

and  I  preferred  you  because  I  thought  she  and  I  would 
both  like  it  better  if  my  messenger  were  one  of  my 
own  people." 

One  hand  fumbled  beneath  his  pillow,  and  Youg- 
hall  thought  he  wanted  it  rearranged.  "Can  I  help 
you?"  he  said,  and  his  heart,  full  as  it  was  of  pity 
and  love,  found  room  for  pride  and  enchantment  at 
"my  messenger." 

"No — I've  got  it."  The  head  on  the  pillow 
turned  away  and  glanced  down  at  something  in  the 
hand  beneath  the  bedclothes. 

It  was  just  then  that  the  clapping  of  Vandy's 
swordsheath  against  his  leg  sounded  along  the  path 
outside  the  tent. 

"Quick!"  said  Alfred,  and  held  out  his  hand,  in 
which  the  thing  lay,  small  and  round. 

Youghall,  to  take  it,  fell  forward  on  one  knee. 
It  was  not  pure  awkwardness,  for  there  was  a  grace 
of  the  heart  in  it.  Vandy  was  pushing  in,  and  one 
thing  had  been  forgotten.  "Name?"  Youghall's 
lips  formed  silently,  looking  at  the  Prince.  Vandy 
was  there  to  hear. 

"I'm  afraid — "  began  the  Colonel,  kindly  but 
firmly. 

"All  right;  we  had  finished,"  said  Prince  Alfred. 
"It  was  awfully  good  of  you  to  come.  Good-by — 
Lanchester — good-by.  You  won't  forget." 

"Good-by,  sir,"  Youghall  said.     "I  won't  forget." 

102 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"Did  you  find  him  very  depressed?"  asked  Colonel 
Vandeleur  outside. 

"I  think  not — no." 

"A  little  excited,  I  fancy.  I  noticed  he  called  you 
Lanchester." 

"Yes,  he  did,  didn't  he?  There  was  a  man  of  that 
name  at  Oxford,"  said  Youghall. 

Colonel  Vandeleur  saw  him  politely  into  his  taxi, 
and  all  the  way  Youghall  felt  a  warm  spot  in  his 
waistcoat  pocket,  where  lay  nothing  more  or  less 
valuable  than  an  oxidized  button  with  a  laurel  wreath 
on  it,  and  a  bugle,  and  the  crown  of  England. 


CHAPTER   X 

TWO  days  later  Dr.  Atkinson  arrived  in  the 
evening  from  Pittsburgh.  He  was  sent  for 
because  Prince  Alfred  wanted  him,  and  for 
that  reason  only — so  much  was  delicately  conveyed 
to  him  from  the  beginning,  and  not  so  delicately 
either  as  to  fail  to  put  him  a  little  on  his  mettle  about 
it.  H.  P.  Atkinson  was  not  precisely  a  nobody,  be 
it  understood.  So  far  as  degrees  went,  both  Ameri- 
can and  European,  there  were  not  ten  practitioners 
in  the  United  States  who  could  show  better,  and, 
although  a  young  man,  Dr.  Atkinson's  name  was 
already  recognizable  in  the  literatures  and  congresses 
of  his  profession.  While  it  could  not  yet  be  said 
that  he  had  arrived,  he  was  on-coming,  and  he  very 
intensely  meant  to  come  on.  Research  and  the  too 
constant  habit  of  conferences  to  meet  in  Rome  or 
Paris  kept  him  poor,  also  perhaps  the  general  fas- 
cination his  work  had  for  him.  "If  Atkinson  would 
only  specialize  practically,"  his  friends  said  of  him; 
but  he  had  an  incurable  tendency  to  specialize  in  di- 
rections of  pure  theory  which  he  balanced  with  a 

104 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

capacity  to  cure  people  of  anything  and  everything, 
deplorable  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  reputation. 
He  meant  to  come  on,  but  by  means  the  most  legiti- 
mate. He  turned  an  involuntarily  cold  shoulder  to 
advertisement;  not  that  he  did  not  see  its  uses,  but 
the  thing  humiliated  him.  When  the  telegram  came 
from  the  Military  Secretary  at  Rideau  Hall,  he  was 
on  the  point  of  taking  a  fortnight's  fishing  up  the 
Saguenay,  and  had  already  arranged  his  work.  He 
bestowed  the  wire  in  an  inside  pocket  with  the  re- 
flection that  it  might  have  been  a  good  deal  more 
inconvenient,  and  told  nobody  of  the  change  in  his 
destination  but  the  booking  clerk  at  the  railway  sta- 
tion. Certainly  he  was  not  an  advertiser. 

They  could  not  have  known  at  Rideau  Hall  that 
Dr.  Atkinson  would  do  this,  but  it  justified  them  in 
their  own  decision  to  keep  his  arrival  out  of  the 
Viceregal  Court  Circular  for  the  day.  It  was  the 
Duke's  idea.  He  thought  that  the  summoning,  in 
addition  to  the  Staff  doctor  and  the  London  specialist, 
of  an  American  medical  man  might  hurt  the  feelings 
of  the  profession  in  Canada.  So,  of  course,  it  might. 
The  Duke  was  very  clever  about  such  things,  and  in 
this  case  he  consulted  Sir  Randolph  Perry,  who 
agreed.  "Keep  it  informal,"  said  Sir  Randolph, 
"and  no  harm  will  be  done.  Make  it,  so  to  speak, 
official,  and  we  shall  have  all  the  local  fellows  on 
their  hind  legs."  So  the  names  of  Lord  Alfred 

105 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Yavelly  and  the  Hon.  Cecil  Hyndham,  who  arrived 
by  the  same  train,  duly  appeared  in  the  daily  com- 
munication of  viceregal  items  to  the  press,  and  that 
of  Dr.  Henry  P.  Atkinson,  of  Pittsburgh,  did  not. 
The  omission,  when  he  noticed  it  in  the  Citizen  next 
morning,  nettled  the  young  man,  who,  though  no 
advertiser,  was  quite  self-respectfully  human;  and 
it  probably  had  something  to  do  with  his  adding  a 
postscript  to  a  letter.  The  letter  was  written  to  his 
locum  tenens,  and  concerned  a  case  left  in  his  care. 
The  postscript  explained  the  Ottawa  address. 

"I  am  here  for  a  day  or  two  to  see  the  Prince,  ap- 
parently at  his  request — certainly  not  at  Perry's.  I 
am  not  quite  sure  that  the  visit  is  consultative,  but  I 
don't  propose  to  understand  it,  of  course,  in  any  other 
sense.  As  I  see  my  way  to  certain  recommendations, 
and  it  may  take  a  little  time  to  make  them  effective, 
you  had  better  address  me,  till  I  wire,  as  above." 

The  next  day  the  Pittsburgh  papers,  and  the  day 
after  all  the  world,  knew  that  Dr.  Henry  P.  Atkin- 
son, to  whose  care  Prince  Alfred  had  been  confided 
when  the  symptoms  of  his  illness  first  appeared  at 
Pittsburgh,  had  been  summoned  to  His  Royal  High- 
ness's  bedside  at  Ottawa.  The  Duke  was  relieved  to 
notice  that  there  were  no  protests  from  the  profession 
in  Canada,  who  seemed  to  think  it,  on  the  whole,  a 
natural  thing  to  happen. 

And  His  Highness  could  not  deny,  would  have 

106 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

been  the  last  to  deny,  the  curious  change  for  the 
better  in  his  nephew's  condition,  which  coincided 
with  Dr.  Atkinson's  arrival,  impossible  as  it  was  to 
refer  to  before  Perry.  Although  there  were  abso- 
lutely no  grounds  for  sensitiveness  on  Perry's  part 
Not  the  smallest  alteration  having  been  made  in 
the  treatment,  as  the  result  of  Atkinson's  arrival,  the 
improvement  in  the  patient  must  necessarily  be 
put  down  to  the  treatment.  Yet  the  coincidence  was 
odd.  Mrs.  Gold,  the  day-nurse,  as  Sir  Randolph's 
choice  and  Sir  Randolph's  main  support,  found  a 
difficulty  in  knowing  "what  to  make  of"  the  Ameri- 
can doctor,  and  showed  in  various  subtle  ways,  which 
were  quite  lost  upon  Dr.  Henry,  that  she  made  rather 
little.  But  even  Mrs.  Gold  had  to  admit  that  from 
the  hour  when  Dr.  Atkinson  drew  a  chair  under  his 
downright  person  by  His  Royal  Highness's  bed,  hav- 
ing first  taken  His  Royal  Highness's  hand,  not  for 
any  purpose  more  professional  than  to  shake  it — even 
Mrs.  Gold  had  to  admit  that  from  that  hour  His 
Royal  Highness  began  to  get  back  his  color.  The 
mask  slipped  off  the  sharply  lined  head,  which  had 
been  lying  almost  as  still  as  a  Crusader's  on  a  stone 
pillow;  and  it  turned  into  that  of  a  weak  and  restless 
young  man  who  had  questions  to  ask  and  demands 
to  make. 

"I  say,"  he  said  to  Dr.  Atkinson  at  the  end  of  his 
first  visit,  "how  long  can  you  stay?" 

107 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"That  depends,"  the  American  smiled,  "but  prob- 
ably about  as  long  as  I'm  wanted." 

"Are  you  stopping  in  the  house?"  asked  Prince 
Alfred.  ' 

"I  am — yes.  I  found  it  had  been  arranged,  very 
kindly." 

"Well — look  here — I  don't  think  that's  a  good 
scheme,  you  know.  Old  Perry,  you  see — naturally. 
And  my  uncle,  you  see — he's  the  dearest  old  boy, 
but  he'll  be  getting  orders  from  home.  They  think 
no  end  of  Perry  at  home.  You  may  find  it  awkward, 
stopping  here.  But  I  don't  want  you  to  leave  the 
town.  Perch  at  a  hotel,  will  you  ?" 

"As  soon  as  I  civilly  can,"  said  Dr.  Atkinson. 
"To-morrow,  perhaps.  I  must  have  a  serious  talk 
with  Sir  Randolph  first.  So  far,  I've  been  able  to 
see  him  only  at  meals." 

"That's  just  it,"  frowned  Prince  Alfred.  "Well 
— look  here,  Atkinson.  I  haven't  a  notion  what  they 
mean  to  do  with  me,  you  know.  They  don't  tell  me. 
All  I  know  is  I  won't  be — effectively — consulted.  I 
never  have  been,  you  know.  There's  a  pretence,  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact — one  isn't." 

Dr.  Atkinson  nodded,  with  sympathy  and  under- 
standing, and  an  interest  that  blazed  in  spite  of  all 
his  reticence.  The  plight  of  the  Prince  was  hardly 
less  appealing  than  the  plight  of  the  patient.  He 
had  heard  of  such  things,  and  in  the  American  ver- 

108 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

sion,  by  which  they  had  not  suffered  in  the  telling. 
His  eye  hardened  as  he  remembered  them. 

"They  made  no  fuss  about  my  sending  for  you. 
I  think  they  thought  I  was  going  out,"  Prince  Alfred 
went  on  with  satisfaction.  "And  now  I  want  to 
make  it  quite  clear,  Atkinson,  that  IVe  called  you  in 
— see  ?  I'm  of  age,  and  all  that,  you  know — I  have 
a  right  to  my  own  doctor,  haven't  I?" 

"The  circumstances,"  said  Dr.  Atkinson,  "are,  of 
course,  rather  special;  but  morally,  at  least,  I  should 
think  that  was  so." 

"It  isn't  that  I'm  not  satisfied  with  old  Perry  and 
my  uncle's  chap,  but  I  want  another  opinion." 

"I  understand." 

Prince  Alfred  searched  the  eye  that  was  "bent  upon 
him  for  an  instant.  Then  he  said : 

"This  is  the  whole  of  it.  I  want  an  opinion  that 
isn't  influenced  by  the  highest  considerations.  Do 
you  know  what  I  mean?" 

Dr.  Atkinson  laughed,  but  his  lips  looked  firmer 
than  ever  afterwards. 

"I  think  I  do,"  he  said. 

"And,  look  here — I  say — do  you  mind?  I'd  like 
to  pay  you  myself.  Catkin!"  The  valet,  passing 
on  the  other  side  of  the  fly-screen,  came  in.  "I  say, 
Catkin,  where's  my  check  book?" 

"In  Your  Royal  Highness's  despatch-box,  sir,  and 
that's  with  the  Colonel,  sir." 

109 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Oh.  No — you  needn't  get  it.  But  you've  got 
some  money — of — mine — Catkin.  How  much  have 
you  got?  Have  you  got  ten  guineas?" 

"Yes,  sir,  I  have  twelve  pound  ten,  sir,  if  you 
require  it." 

Catkin's  expression  dedicated  the  whole  of  his 
small  change  as  well  as  his  life  and  his  person  if  His 
Royal  Highness  should  require  it. 

"Oh,  come,"  laughed  Dr.  Atkinson,  no  longer  to  be 
repressed.  "Won't  you  wait  until  I  send  in  my  bill?" 

"No,  I  won't.  I  want,  please,  to  pay  you  a  fee 
in  advance.  Go  and  get  it,  Catkin." 

Catkin  went,  and  Dr.  Atkinson,  plunged  in  reflec- 
tion, sat  silent  by  the  bed. 

"That's  quite  a  dependable  fellow,  I  should  say," 
he  remarked,  in  the  half  absent  tone  of  doctors'  con- 
versation, "but  I  don't  seem  to  remember  him  in 
Pittsburgh." 

"Catkin?  Oh — the  best.  No,  he  wasn't  there. 
Been  sent  home.  Sort  of  silly  idea  I  had  that  I 
wanted  to  roll  up  my  own  nightshirt.  Didn't  work 
— Vandy  rolled  it  up.  Then  they  yanked  poor  old 
Cat  back  again.  I  was  precious  glad." 

Catkin  came  in,  looking  infinitely  dependable,  with 
the  flush  that  results  from  going  hurriedly  to  the 
bottom  of  a  trunk.  The  gold,  in  an  envelope  on 
a  salver,  bore  no  more  relation  to  Catkin  than  if  it 
had  just  been  minted. 

no 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

The  next  moment  was  as  full  of  reluctance  as  any 
that  Dr.  Atkinson's  practice  had  yet  brought  him. 
It  was  odd,  it  was  ridiculous,  but  he  had  a  sudden 
thrill  of  dislike  to  the  sovereigns  the  Prince  offered 
him.  No  well-to-do  patient's  money  had  ever  affected 
him  in  such  a  way  before,  and  this  being  plainly  Cat- 
kin's had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Perhaps,  though, 
obscurely  it  had.  If  Catkin,  a  mere  valet,  could —  It 
all  flashed  through  him,  looking  at  the  envelope  in 
Alfred's  thin  fingers,  with  a  constriction  of  the  heart. 
The  heart  of  a  good  American,  trying  to  throb  per- 
haps, so  long  after,  to  the  old  music  of  Ich  dien.  .  .  ,., 
It  passed,  of  course. 

The  Prince  looked  worriedly  at  the  envelope  swing- 
ing from  his  fingers,  and  said: 

"I  haven't  the  least  idea — your  traveling  expenses 
and  all  that.  You  were  a  brick  to  come,  Atkinson. 
And,  of  course,  you  will  send  in — I  mean — this,  you 
know,  is  only  to  get  you " 

Dr.  Atkinson  took  the  envelope,  folded  it  across, 
and  bestowed  it  carefully  in  his  waistcoat  pocket. 

"Prince,"  he  said  with  a  smile,  "you've  got  me  all 
right — for  all  I'm  worth." 

It  was  that  same  day,  in  the  afternoon,  that  Mrs. 
Gold  told  the  night-nurse  she  believed  Sir  Randolph 
was  beginning  to  see  some  little  improvement. 


CHAPTER  XL 

AFTER  dinner  and  billiards  the  Military  Secre- 
tary, Major  Molyneux  Winter,  was  doing 
his  duty  toward  the  American  doctor  by 
smoking  a  parting  cigar  with  him. 

"It  used  to  be  good,"  said  Major  Winter  of  the 
fishing  about  Dent  du  Loup,  "but  there's  a  big  hotel 
there  now,  and  every  pool  within  a  dozen  miles  stinks 
of  money.  However,  you  can  pick  up  your  Johnny 
Couteau  there  all  right,  and  push  on  up  river.  If, 
as  you  propose,  you  leave  Ottawa  to-morrow,  the 
eleven-five  is  the  best  train.  That  arrives  you  at 
Montreal " 

Dr.  Atkinson  had  removed  his  cigar,  and  was  con- 
sidering the  ash  of  it. 

"You  misunderstand  me,  Major,"  he  said.  "I 
feel  that  I  have  trespassed  upon  the  hospitality 
of  the  Governor-General  long  enough,  and  I  pro- 
pose to  go  to-morrow  to  a  friend  in  the  town — 
McGillivray,  Dr.  McGillivray.  Perhaps  you  know 
him." 

"I  know  the  name,"  said  Major  Winter. 

112 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"But  I  should  not  feel  justified  in  leaving  the 
Prince  at  present." 

"Oh,  but — you  mustn't  spoil  your  holiday,  Dr.  At- 
kinson. You  needn't  worry  about  Prince  Alfred. 
Sir  Randolph  is  responsible,  you  know." 

"I  should  be  glad  to  think  so.  But  Prince  Alfred 
this  morning  very  directly  and  specifically  made  me 
responsible." 

"Oh,  but — I  beg  your  pardon,  but  he  couldn't  do 
that  without  the  Duke's  leave,  you  know." 

"Why  not?" 

"Well — I'm  bound  to  explain  to  you  that  the 
King  has  sent  Perry,  Dr.  Atkinson.  Sir  Randolph 
is«one  of  the  physicians-in-ordinary — sort  of  family 
doctor  to  the  Court,  you  know,  besides  being  an 
absolutely  top-hole  specialist  for  lungs." 

"I  quite  understand  the  King's  point  of  view,  but 
my  patient  doesn't  seem  to  be  affected  by  it." 

"Oh,  I  say!"  Major  Winter  faced  round  rather 
stiff  and  square.  "Well,  but — I've  nothing  to  do 
with  it,  of  course.  You'd  better  talk  to  Vandeleur. 
But  I  should  say  that  in  a  matter  of  that  kind  the 
Prince  would  be  bound  to  some  extent  by  Court  eti- 
quette, you  know.  The  King's  wishes  are  com- 
mands, especially  where  members  of  the  royal  house- 
hold are  concerned.  But  don't  take  it  from  me,  you 
know.  It's  Vandeleur's  job.  You  talk  to  Vande- 
leur." 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Dr.  Atkinson  smoked  on  in  a  silence  which  seemed 
deliberate. 

"If  the  Prince  doesn't  feel  bound  by  Court  eti- 
quette, I  don't  see  why  I  should,"  he  replied  pres- 
ently. 

"I  see  your  point.  But" — Major  Winter  was 
warming  to  indiscretion — "excuse  my  mentioning  it, 
but  doesn't  the  etiquette  of  your  own  shop  rather 
come  in,  doctor?  I  suppose  you  admit  that  Sir  Ran- 
dolph's in  charge  of  the  case." 

Dr.  Atkinson  got  up  from  the  bench  and  stepped 
off  the  dais  to  give  himself  the  freedom  of  a  few 
paces  in  front  of  it. 

"I  might  have  refused  to  come  on  that  account," 
he  said,  "but  I  supposed,  of  course,  that  the  visit  was 
consultative ' ' 

"So  it  was,  I  am  sure,"  Major  Winter  hastened 
to  say.  "I  know  nothing  whatever  about  it,  but  no 
doubt  it  was." 

"And,  now  that  I  am  here,"  Dr.  Atkinson  went 
on  quietly,  "I  think  that  any  objection  of  that  sort 
is  properly  met  by  the  consideration  that  the  patient 
was  placed  in  my  hands  in  the  beginning." 

The  Military  Secretary,  who  had  been  charged 
with  the  tactful  fixing  up  of  Dr.  Atkinson's  departure, 
and  who  felt  that  he  had  been  as  little  tactful  as  suc- 
cessful, looked  embarrassed.  He  reflected  gratefully 
that  Americans  were  business  men  and  accustomed  to 

114 


direct  methods.  "The  fellow  doesn't  seem  offended," 
he  thought. 

"Well,  all  I  can  say  is,  talk  to  Vandeleur,"  he  re- 
peated. 

"I  don't  think  that  is  necessary  at  present.  But 
I  should  like  to  talk — with  as  little  delay  as  pos- 
sible— if  you  will  be  good  enough  to  arrange  it 
for  me,  Major — to  the  Duke  and  to  Sir  Randolph 
Perry." 

"Separately  or  together?" 

"Separately  at  first.  Together  later,  perhaps. 
As  to  the  hour,  I  suggest  to-morrow  morning,  but  I 
am  entirely,  of  course,  at  their  disposal.  Perhaps 
you  will  mention  that  I  shall  be  staying  on  in  Ottawa 
for  the  present.  But  I  may  tell  you,  at  your  dis- 
cretion, that  in  my  opinion  there  is  urgent  need  for 
effective  consultation,  and  that  from  my  point  of  view 
loss  of  time  is  extremely  prejudicial.  Good  night." 

"Good  night  to  you,"  said  Major  Winter. 

When  the  Duke  was  told  at  ten  the  next  morning 
of  Prince  Alfred's  private  arrangement  with  Dr. 
Atkinson,  he  said  it  was  the  devil.  He  said  it  was 
the  very  devil.  Here  was  Perry,  he  said.  Did  the 
fellow  expect  to  supersede  Perry?  What  was  to  be 
said  to  Perry,  and  what  could  Perry  be  expected  to 
say?  These  medical  fellows  wanted  very  careful 
handling,  especially  men  at  the  very  top  of  the  tree, 
like  Perry.  Winter  could  see  for  himself  that  it  was 

"5 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  devil.  The  very  devil.  Suppose  Perry  turned 
rusty  and  threw  up  the  case.  He  didn't  say  it  was 
probable,  but  if  he  did?  Who  could  blame  him? 
He  would  have  the  whole  of  the  profession  behind 
his  back — in  England,  anyhow.  He,  the  Duke, 
would  have  to  make  it  a  personal  matter  with  Perry, 
a  thing  which  it  was  possible  to  be  obliged  to  do  a 
trifle  too  often,  by  Gad.  His  poor  nephew  had  been 
ill  advised,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  very  ill  advised. 
The  Duke  did  not  pause  to  consider  that  his  nephew 
in  this  step  could  not  well  have  received  any  advice. 
He  did  not  pause  to  consider  anything,  but  the  com- 
plications the  step  had  caused.  Complications  with 
Sir  Randolph  Perry — complications  with  Bucking- 
ham Palace.  The  Duke  stood  before  the  fireplace 
of  the  room  in  which  he  usually  received  the  Prime 
Minister  an  undeservedly  ruffled  Governor-General; 
and  Major  Molyneux  Winter,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
keep  the  Duke's  path  free  of  just  such  things  as  com- 
plications, drooped  contritely  upon  one  foot  on  the 
other  side  of  the  table. 

"Well,  Winter,"  the  Duke  summed  up,  "we  shall 
want  something  more  definite  than  this,  you  know — 
we  shall  want  to  know  precisely  where  we  stand  with 
this  Pittsburgh  fellow.  You  must  see  Vandeleur  at 
once,  and  find  out  exactly  what  did  happen.  It  may 
have  been  a  mere  politeness  on  my  nephew's  part. 
I  must  get  to  the  bottom  of  it  before  I  see  Atkinson 

116 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

officially,  if  I  am  obliged  to.  Go  and  talk  to  Van- 
deleur." 

Major  Winter  went  and  found  the  equerry  asking 
for  him.  Colonel  Vandy  had  been  already  sum- 
moned by  the  Prince,  and  already  told  exactly  what 
did  happen,  Catkin  supplying  anything  his  master 
had  forgotten. 

"It  was  clever  of  him  to  have  Catkin  there,"  added 
the  Colonel. 

They  talked  it  over  together,  these  two  gentlemen 
in  perfect  health,  talked  it  over  heavily  from  the 
point  of  view  of  an  outraged  Court  and  a  Staff  that 
might  be  held  responsible.  Then  Major  Winter 
took  Colonel  Vandeleur  to  the  Duke,  the  two  measur- 
ing the  corridors  with  long,  important  steps.  Having 
heard,  as  he  said,  the  whole  story,  the  Duke  decided 
that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  send  for  Perry. 
"It  all  depends,"  said  the  Duke,  "on  Perry." 

So  Perry  was  sent  for,  Vandy  and  the  Major 
leaving  the  viceregal  presence  not  unwillingly  for  the 
purpose,  with  measured  steps  and  all  discretion. 
"Whatever  happens,"  Major  Winter  told  his  com- 
panion in  perplexity,  "the  papers  mustn't  get  hold 
of  this,"  and  Colonel  Vandeleur  said  "No,  by  Jove." 
They  found  Sir  Randolph  rubbing  his  hands.  He 
showed  them  the  morning  chart,  comparing  it  with 
that  of  the  same  day  the  week  before.  He  told 
them  what  one  or  two  of  the  indications  meant.  He 

117 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

was  just  about  to  send  the  chart  to  the  Duke;  now 
he  would  take  it  instead,  very  glad  of  the  chance  so 
early  in  the  day.  He,  Sir  Randolph,  began  to  see 
his  way. 

"Whom  shall  I  get  hold  of?"  he  asked. 

"Captain  Grinling's  on  duty,  sir,  but  I'll  take  you 
myself,"  said  the  Military  Secretary  with  a  gravity 
that  made  Sir  Randolph  give  him  a  sharp  glance. 
He  was  obviously  full  of  repressed  information,  and 
the  little  red  doctor  kept  pace  with  him  feeling  more 
professional  than  at  any  moment  since  his  arrival. 
Major  Winter  ushered  him  in  and  withdrew,  but 
remained  in  attendance,  and  when  the  telephone  bell 
rang  in  the  A.D.C.s'  room  it  was  he  who  came.  Sir 
Randolph  by  this  time  knew  his  way  quite  well  about 
the  house;  but  the  Duke,  upon  points  of  etiquette, 
was  extremely  particular.  Major  Winter  found  his 
master  beaming,  and  Sir  Randolph  even  more  radiant 
than  usual.  There  had  plainly  been  no  situation; 
when  the  Major  returned,  after  seeing  Sir  Randolph 
to  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  the  Duke  told  him  there 
had  not. 

"I  must  say,"  the  Duke  told  him,  "Perry  took  it 
awfully  well.  Awfully  well,  you  know.  Perfectly 
willing — in  fact,  insists  that  my  nephew's  wish  must 
cancel  every  other  consideration.  Absolutely.  Spoke 
quite  handsomely  of  Atkinson,  I  must  say.  Doesn't 
understand  it  as  an  abdication  on  his  own  part  in  any 

118 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

way,  but  is  willing  to  accept  Atkinson  in  practically 
any  capacity  that  will  gratify  poor  Alfie.  Seems 
there  is  no  possibility  of  two  opinions  on  the  case, 
which  is  lucky,  of  course.  And  Perry  expects  now  to 
be  able  to  get  him  off  in  a  week's  time — suggests  the 
Empress  boat  leaving  Quebec  next  Saturday.  Upon 
that  point,  of  course,  we  can  get  orders.  Perry's 
view  is  not  likely  to  be  questioned  at  home.  Mean- 
while, no  difficulty  whatever  about  Atkinson.  Great 
relief  to  me.  Just  see  the  chap — will  you,  Winter? 
— and  say  that  I  particularly  hope  that  he  will  stop 
on  with  us  here.  Much  the  best  arrangement. 
I  hope  Perry's  management  of  this  difficult  matter 
will  meet  with  suitable  recognition.  A  baronetcy — 
quite  probable.  He  deserves  it.  And  he  shall  have 
my  good  word — I  promise  you  that." 


CHAPTER  XII 

MAJOR  MOLYNEUX  WINTER  was  not, 
perhaps,  too  well  qualified  for  the  post  he 
held.  Dauntless  in  the  face  of  the  enemy, 
and  really  excellent  at  household  accounts,  even  vice- 
regal ones,  which  require  an  eagle  eye,  he  could  never 
be  quite  depended  upon  not  to  say  almost  exactly 
what  was  in  his  mind.  He  said  it  now,  to  Dr.  At- 
kinson, in  the  satisfaction  of  having  persuaded  the 
doctor  that,  his  attendance  on  the  Prince  being  fully 
acknowledged,  he  would  be  well  advised  to  stay  on  at 
Rideau  Hall. 

"You'd  much  better  be  on  the  spot,"  Major  Win- 
ter had  urged  candidly,  and  Dr.  Atkinson,  thinking  it 
over,  agreed. 

"It's  very  kind  of  the  Governor-General,  I'm 
sure,"  he  said,  "but  what  am  I  to  say  to  McGilli- 
vray?" 

"Oh,  just  tell  him  you've  been  invited.  It's 
really,"  smiled  Winter,  "a  command,  you  know." 

"Oh,  well,  that's  simple,"  Dr.  Atkinson  said,  think- 
ing of  the  reasons  he  would  give  McGillivray. 

120 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"By  good  luck  it's  all  fairly  simple,"  replied 
jor  Winter.     "Sir  Randolph  says  there  can't  be  two 
opinions  on  the  case." 

"Does  he?  Ah!"  said  Dr.  Atkinson  thoughtfully. 
"Well,  I'm  to  see  him  at  twelve,  you  say?  Very 
good.  Please  convey  to  the  Duke  my  appreciation 
of  his  hospitality,  and  either  my  best  thanks  or  my 
implicit  obedience,  whichever  meets  the  case.  I'll 
stay,  anyhow." 

In  the  exciting  week  that  followed,  Major  Winter 
was  often  given  credit  for  at  least  that  triumph  of 
diplomacy.  The  Pittsburgh  doctor  was  in  the  house ; 
he  could  be  placed  under  some  sort  of  restraint; 
could  be  sent  for  to  the  library,  met  on  the  stairs, 
got  hold  of  over  coffee  after  lunch,  or  port  after  din- 
ner. He  could  be  kept  in  touch,  not  only  with  the 
patient's  hourly  condition,  which  was  the  reason  the 
world  had  to  be  satisfied  with,  but  with  the  high 
play  of  messages  and  intimations  that  passed  between 
the  Governor-General  and  Buckingham  Palace;  he 
could  be  instructed  in  the  significance  of  this,  and 
warned  of  the  gravity  of  that.  Above  all,  he  could 
be  kept,  as  a  guest  of  the  house,  in  relations  of  even 
more  than  professional  confidence.  It  was  impos- 
sible, at  all  events,  for  him  to  give  any  hint  of  his 
diagnosis  or  his  recommendations  outside,  whether 
they  were  accepted  or  not. 

Whether  they  weretfto  be  accepted,  that  was  what 


121 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

mattered  so  immensely,  apparently  first  to  King  John, 
and  the  Foreign  Office  and  the  Duchess  of  Alten- 
burg,  then  to  the  Duke  of  Camberley,  and  his  staff, 
and,  most  of  all,  judging  by  activity,  to  Sir  Randolph 
Perry,  K.C.B.,  as  was  reasonable,  for  his  professional 
reputation  was  at  stake.  That  it  could  matter  to 
the  patient  was  a  view  that  seemed  peculiar  to  him- 
self and  his  American  adviser,  who  held  it,  however, 
strongly  enough  for  six. 

The  state  of  war  was  declared  at  noon  on  the 
day  of  Dr.  Atkinson's  first  professional  meeting  with 
Sir  Randolph,  which  will  be  remembered  to  have 
been  arranged  for  twelve  o'clock.  Doors  closed  upon 
the  two  which  cannot  be  opened,  which  never,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  were  completely  opened,  even  to  his- 
tory, but  anyone  might  know  that  a  suave  and  genial 
Sir  Randolph  went  in,  of  normal  color,  and  a  dogged 
and  belligerent  Sir  Randolph  came  out,  several  shades 
redder.  I  must  let  the  word  belligerent  stand;  it 
did  express  him,  such  an  astonishing  change  there 
was.  Sir  Randolph's  courtesy,  Sir  Randolph's  con- 
fidence, had  been  ill  rewarded — there  could  be,  it 
seemed,  two  opinions  of  the  case,  two  opinions  of  the 
chances.  Ground  had  been  gained,  if  only  standing- 
ground,  by  the  enemy,  through  the  mere  exercise,  on 
Sir  Randolph's  part,  of  the  virtues  of  tolerance  and 
professional  good  feeling.  "Gad,  sir,"  Sir  Randolph 
said  to  the  Duke  as  together  they  deplored  the  state 

122 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

of  things  which  had  come  about,  "I  sometimes  feel 
it's  possible  to  be  too  much  of  a  gentleman  in  my 
trade."  That  was  the  general  feeling  in  the  house- 
hold, from  the  Duke  downward.  Sir  Randolph's 
gentlemanly  behavior,  his  determination  that  the 
lightest  wish  of  the  Prince  should  be  respected,  so 
long  as  there  could  be  no  two  opinions  about  the 
case,  had  been  taken  advantage  of.  The  Pittsburgh 
doctor  had  been  given  a  status — that  is  how  they  put 
it  in  the  A.D.C.s'  room,  simply  through  Perry's 
decency,  and  now  he  was  rewarding  that  decency 
by  worming  himself  into  the  Prince's  confidence,  buck- 
ing him  up  to  defy  regulations,  and  starting  some 
damn  new  hare  about  the  case  to  upset  the  conclusions 
of  the  first  specialist  in  England.  On  the  face  of 
it,  Captain  Grinling  said  to  Captain  Montmorency 
Jones,  was  it  likely  Atkinson  knew  or  was  it  likely 
Perry  knew?  Which  would  he,  Grinling,  or  he, 
Jones,  elect  to  follow  if  either  Grinling  or  Jones  were 
afflicted  with  rotten  bellows?  The  A.D.C.s'  room 
stood  solidly  for  eminence  and  authority.  A  shade 
fell  upon  it  when  Winter,  to  whom  it  said  Sir,  re- 
ported that  Major  Minchin,  of  the  Royal  Medical 
Army  Corps,  the  viceregal  doctor,  who  was  naturally 
given  intimate  views,  was  "keeping  an  open  mind." 
"Wobbling,"  they  put  it  darkly,  and  it  was  hinted 
that  poor  Major  Minchin's  professional  indecision 
was  a  form  of  watching  the  cat.  Young  men  are  so 

123 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

severe.  But  even  the  Duke,  that  best  of  good  fel- 
lows, in  an  access  of  irritated  anxiety,  snubbed  his 
medical  man  rather  severely.  "All  I  can  say,  Min- 
chin,"  he  delivered,  "is  that  we  don't  pay  you  to 
keep  an  open  mind."  Which  so  frightened  Minchin 
that  he  fluttered  more  than  ever,  first  to  the  enteric 
fever  complication  theory  of  Dr.  Atkinson,  and  then 
back  to  the  general  tubercular  condition  which  was 
so  positively  affirmed  by  Sir  Randolph  Perry. 

There  were  symptoms  on  both  sides,  tubercle  mi- 
crobes to  justify  any  view,  and  this  against  Atkin- 
son's, that  his  feature  had  long  been  known  for  its 
fallibility. 

"It's  the  commonest  mistake  in  the  history  of  the 
disease,"  declared  Sir  Randolph,  and  quoted  case 
after  case  in  which  he  had  been  privileged  to  expose 
it.  The  unhappy  thing  was  the  proportion  of  them 
in  which  death  had  supervened  at  different  periods 
after  the  exposure.  Certainly  the  balance  of  hope 
was  with  Atkinson.  That  in  its  way  was  the  most 
irritating  thing  of  all,  it  being  obscurely  felt  that  the 
balance  of  hope  ought  to  be  with  the  highest  au- 
thority. 

The  acute  difficulty  was  the  immediate  divergence 
in  the  recommendations  of  the  two  doctors.  They 
agreed  only  upon  the  prime  importance  of  getting 
the  Prince  at  the  earliest  feasible  moment  out  of  the 
midsummer  conditions  of  Ottawa.  Sir  Randolph,  to 

124 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

put  it  briefly,  was  for  the  immediate  voyage  to  Eng- 
land, and  thereafter,  if  and  as  soon  as  the  patient 
could  bear  it,  a  course  of  treatment  based  on  every- 
thing that  was  established  in  what  was  known  as  the 
Neuheimer  system.  What  was  absolutely  estab- 
lished, Sir  Randolph  drew  the  line  rigidly  at  that. 
He  would  be  a  party  to  no  false  hopes  based  on 
theories,  however  brilliant,  as  yet  imperfectly  demon- 
strated. In  Sir  Randolph's  opinion,  expressed  pri- 
vately to  the  Duke,  the  person  of  a  member  of  the 
royal  house  of  England  did  not  offer  a  suitable  sub- 
ject for  empiricism.  Nor  would  Sir  Randolph  with- 
hold any  part  of  his  opinion  from  the  Duke.  Prince 
Alfred's  life  might  be  prolonged,  under  an  adapta- 
tion of  the  Neuheimer  system,  for  several  years.  It 
was  the  most  they  were  entitled  to  hope. 

Dr.  Atkinson,  on  the  other  hand,  diagnosing  two 
diseases  in  the  Prince,  proposed  to  cure  first  one  and 
then  the  other.  Not  by  his  own  hand. 

"We  can  get  the  enteric  out  of  him  in  a  week  now," 
he  told  the  Governor-General.  "And  then  I  want 
you  to  hand  him  over  to  Morrow  at  Sumach.  Mor- 
row's an  advance  picket — he's  got  hold  of  things. 
You  must  have  heard  of  him,  sir.  The  Morrow  Com- 
mittees. He's  the  fellow  who  has  practically  cleaned 
consumption  out  of  the  country  towns  of  the  state  of 
New  York.  He  was  phthisic  himself  once,  like  most 
of  the  men  who  have  done  anything  with  us.  We 

125 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

seem  to  want  the  personal  stimulus.  Tried  every- 
thing on  himself;  but  his  own  case  was  measles  to 
some  of  those  he's  wound  up  and  started  going  again 
since.  I  don't  say  it's  Prince  Alfred's  only  chance, 
but,  taking  everything  together,  his  predispositions 
of  all  sorts — I  may  say  that  the  Prince  has  spoken 
very  freely  to  me — I  would  not  be  afraid  to  publish 
my  belief  that  his  chances  are  ten  to  one  with  Mor- 
row, and  one  to  ten  back  there  in  England  getting 
Neuheimer  inoculations." 

"But  you  won't  publish  it,"  said  the  Duke  anx- 
iously. 

"Why,  no,"  Dr.  Atkinson  replied.  "I  consider 
I've  done  my  duty  when  I've  given  my  best  advice  to 
the  patient." 

"I  haven't  spoken  to  Alfred — yet,"  said  the 
Duke.  "I  know  I  can  depend  upon  the  boy  to  do 
what  is  thought  best  for  him.  You  mentioned  his 
predispositions.  Now  exactly  what  do  you  mean  by 
that?" 

"Well,  if  he  goes  back  to  England,  one  of  his 
predispositions — to  tell  you  candidly,  Highness — his 
leading  predisposition — is  to  die.  He  sees  himself  ly- 
ing in  state — is  there  a  place  you  call  Westminster 
Hall?  Well,  there.  Stretched  out  in  bed  with  his 
eyes  shut  he  sees  himself  lying  in  state,  and  taking 
a  trip  on  a  gun-carriage  afterwards.  He's  got  it  all 
figured  out." 

126 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"Morbid,"  said  the  Duke. 

"Maybe,"  said  the  doctor.  "His  mother,  he  tells 
me,  died  of  tuberculosis." 

"Her  late  Majesty,"  the  Duke  returned  heavily, 
"did  at  the  end  suffer  from  something  of  the  kind. 
But  there  were  complications."  The  reply  suggested 
that  her  late  Majesty  had  been  given  a  choice. 

"Suppose  we  consented  to  the  Sumach  idea — I  ad- 
mit the  virtues  of  the  Adirondack  air — would  it  be 
possible  to  arrange  to  place  Perry  in  charge?" 

"Not — excuse  me  if  I  put  it  brusquely — not  on 
your  life,  sir.  Morrow  would  never  consent.  How 
could  he?" 

"It  would  look  better  in  England,"  said  the  Duke. 

"I  am  afraid  it  would  serve  no  earthly  purpose. 
The  nurses  should  go,  Catkin,  and  Colonel  Vande- 
leur  by  all  means.  Nobody  else,"  said  Dr.  Atkin- 
son. 

"You  yourself ?" 

"I've  got  a  lot  of  people  to  attend  to  in  Pittsburgh, 
Duke,  and  some  of  them  are  pretty  sick.  It's  a  place 
with  a  wonderful  equality  of  opportunity  for  self- 
indulgence." 

"Then  you  wouldn't  be " 

"On  hand?  Oh,  yes,  if  occasion  arose.  But  it 
wouldn't." 

"What  does  my  nephew  say  to  that?" 

"I  think  His  Royal  Highness  understands  the  situ- 

127 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ation,"  said  Dr.  Atkinson.  "He  believes  me  when 
I  tell  him  nothing  in  the  world  would  justify  me  in 
taking  his  case  so  long  as  Morrow  is  alive." 

The  Duke  walked  out  of  the  room. 

"Then,"  said  Major  Winter,  returning  to  the 
charge  with  Atkinson  the  next  afternoon,  "we  should 
be  obliged  to  ship  Perry,  after  ten  days,  to  counter- 
mand the  C.P.R.'s  special  cabin  arrangements — 
they've  gone  to  no  end  of  trouble,  knocking  four  into 
one — and  practically  throw  overboard  the  most  dis- 
tinguished opinion  of  the  British  school  of  medicine. 
Perry  ain't  alone,  you  must  remember.  Impossible, 
man.  You  must  see  for  yourself  it's  impossible." 

"Won't  Perry  help  you?" 

"Perry!" 

"Why,  yes.  Perry  ought  to  recommend  it.  Get 
him  to  go  over  and  see  Morrow,  anyhow.  I'll  have 
the  enteric  proved  on  him  in  three  days,  and  though 
that  doesn't  affect  his  views  about  the  phthisis,  he'll 
be  so  sick  at  having  to  acknowledge  it  that  he  might 
very  well  decide  to  lead  the  way  out  of  all  com- 
plications by  recommending  the  Morrow  treatment. 
If  he  were  convinced,  of  course.  And  I  imagine,  if 
the  Duke  asked  him  to  go  and  see  Morrow  with 
an  open  mind,  Morrow  could  convince  him." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  complications?" 

"Well,  I've  got  to  tell  you  I  think  the  patient 
means  to  place  himself  under  Morrow." 

128 


"And  you  mean  to  help  him,"  said  Winter. 

"I  have  helped  him,"  Dr.  Atkinson  replied.  "I 
don't  suppose  it  will  be  necessary  to  have  recourse  to 
the  habeas  corpus  act,"  he  laughed. 

In  three  days,  or,  to  be  precise,  on  the  morning  of 
the  fourth,  Prince  Alfred's  condition  had  changed 
sufficiently  to  justify  Dr.  Atkinson's  diagnosis  of 
enteric.  By  that  time  also  the  Governor-General 
had  confided  the  matter  unofficially  to  the  Canadian 
Prime  Minister,  an  astute  and  independent  person, 
and,  as  the  Duke  often  said  both  publicly  and  pri- 
vately, a  man  he  was  proud  to  claim  his  very  good 
friend.  It  happened  that  Sir  Hector  Cameron  could 
testify  warmly  to  the  Morrow  treatment,  which  had 
re-established  a  brother  of  Lady  Cameron  when  he 
was  so  "advanced"  as  to  be  practically  at  death's 
door.  Nor  did  Sir  Hector  see  how  "in  this  year  of 
grace"  the  Prince's  wishes  could  be  overridden  in  the 
matter.  "Why  shouldn't  he  have  the  chance  he 
wants?"  asked  Sir  Hector. 

"I  understand  the  King's  feeling,"  the  Duke  told 
him.  "The  Family  are  and  have  always  been  pecu- 
liarly attached  to  one  another.  If  his  brother  is  go- 
ing to  die,  the  King  wants  him  to  die  at  home. 
Naturally." 

"But  if  he  goes  to  Sumach,  he  won't,"  said  Sir 
Hector, 

"Sir  Randolph  Perry  assures  us  that  it  will  only 

129 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

take  place  sooner,"  said  the  Duke.  "I  may  tell  you, 
Cameron,  that  the  worry  and  strain  of  this  distress- 
ing matter  is  beginning  to  tell  upon  my  capacity  to 
discharge  public  business.  It  is  beginning  to  affect 
the  public  interest.  We  can't  have  that.  It  must  be 
settled  somehow.  I  will  confess  to  you  that  Alfred 
has  already  asked  for  an  official  interview  with 
me — and  so  far  I've  shirked  it.  But  it's  got  to 
be  faced  some  time.  Vandeleur  is  about  as  much 
use " 

"As  a  sick  headache,"  said  the  Prime  Minister 
sympathetically,  and  fell  back  upon  his  private  re- 
sources, which  were  many. 

"Look  here,  sir,"  he  said  presently.  (It  was  an 
incorrigible  form  of  address,  one  of  the  things  for 
which  the  Duke  declared  he  liked  Sir  Hector.) 
"What  you  want  in  this  business,  and  perhaps  what 
His  Majesty  would  like,  too,  is  to  transfer  the  re- 
sponsibility. Well,  give  me  permission  to  make  it  a 
Cabinet  matter.  Let  us  consider  the  question  on 
international  grounds,  and  submit  our  views  to  you. 
If  they  coincide  with  your  own,  your  position  will  be 
strengthened  with  the  King.  If  they  don't,  no  harm 
will  be  done." 

The  Duke  considered. 

"What  is  your  own  idea  of  the  political  aspect  of 
sending  the  Prince  to  this  chap  in  the  Adirondacks?" 
he  asked. 

130 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Sir  Hector  threw  back  his  head  and  inserted  his 
thumbs  in  the  armholes  of  his  waistcoat. 

"I  think,  in  the  present  soreness  over  our  action 
in  the  North  Pacific  it  would  be  quite  a  useful  little 
move,"  he  said. 

"Other  things  being  equal,  that  is  a  consideration 
that  is  bound,  of  course,  to  affect  them  at  home," 
mused  the  Duke.  "You  meet  to-morrow  morning, 
don't  you  ?  Come  over  to  luncheon  and  bring  Dela- 
croix." 

Delacroix  was  the  Minister  of  Marine  and 
Fisheries. 

It  was  always  carefully  kept  from  Prince  Alfred 
that  the  decision  finally  arrived  at  was  effected  by 
anything  but  his  own  desire.  The  Duke  made  a 
point  of  that.  He  knew  how  much  the  boy  would 
dislike  the  idea  that  political  considerations,  however 
important,  had  practically  influenced  it.  When  he 
said  this  to  his  trusty  friend,  Sir  Hector  Cameron, 
that  good  fellow  made  a  respectful  and  suitable  re- 
sponse. But  what  the  head  of  the  Canadian  democ- 
racy murmured  in  his  heart  was,  "It's  a  lie  to  say 
they  did." 

Before  the  week  was  out,  Sir  Randolph  Perry  had 
gone  to  see  Dr.  Morrow  at  Sumach,  with  an  open 
mind.  He  sent  his  report  by  telegram,  and  it  was 
so  favorable  to  the  Morrow  system  as  to  leave  the 
Duke,  as  he  said,  no  alternative.  A  communique 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

was  issued  which  stated  that  upon  the  advice  of  Sir 
Randolph  Perry,  given  after  thorough  personal  ex- 
amination of  the  treatment  of  phthisis  initiated  and 
carried  on  by  Dr.  James  Morrow,  at  Sumach,  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  it  had  been  decided  to  place  His 
Royal  Highness  Prince  Alfred,  for  some  months  in 
'Dr.  Morrow's  care.  His  Royal  Highness,  attended 
by  Sir  Randolph  Perry,  and  his  own  suite,  would 
proceed  to  Sumach  as  soon  as  his  strength  permitted 
and  suitable  arrangements  could  be  made.  Sir  Ran- 
dolph Perry  would  then  leave  for  England.  The 
communique  did  not  include  the  name  of  Dr.  Henry 
P.  Atkinson,  but  a  local  paper  mentioned  that  he 
left  Ottawa  the  day  before  the  Prince  did,  with  the 
intention  of  getting  five  days'  fishing  up  the  Saguenay 
before  returning  to  Pittsburgh. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

WELL  done!"  said  Henry  Lanchester  with- 
out looking  up  from  his  paper.  He  and 
Hilary  were  in  the  living-room  at  Old 
Loon  Point.  Hilary  sat  in  the  window-seat  doing 
the  flowers,  and  a  stout-armed  Bertha  was  clearing 
away  the  breakfast  things. 

"What?"  asked  Hilary  absently. 

"They  have  handed  the  Prince  over  to  Morrow. 
The  London  man  brings  him,  and  leaves  him.  That 
must  have  taken  some  doing.  I  wonder  who  engi- 
neered it?" 

"Perhaps,"  said  Hilary,  "he  engineered  it  him- 
self." 

"Not  so  easy."  The  ex-President's  eye  traveled 
down  the  column.  "Well — I'm  uncommonly  glad 
of  this.  Uncommonly  glad.  Old  Morrow's  cap 
doesn't  need  feathers;  still,  it's  satisfactory.  But" — 
he  glanced  at  the  date,  "this  is  yesterday's  paper. 
Did  you  see  it,  Hil?" 

"Yes,"  said  Hilary,  and  put  in  another  plume  of 
goldenrod.  "If  you  will  go  off  for  three  days  at  a 

133 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

time  after  black  bass,  Dad,  how  can  you  expect  to 
keep  in  touch  with — with  public  affairs?" 

"I  expect  to  be  told.  Left  Ottawa  at  nine  to-day 
— yesterday.  C.  P.  R.  to  Montreal,  and  the  New 
York  Central  gave  him  a  special  to  Moose  Lick. 
Spends  the  night  there  and  drives  to  Sumach  this 
morning.  'Accompanied  by  his  equerry,  Colonel 
Adrian  Vandeleur,  Sir  Randolph  Perry,  the  well- 
known  London  specialist,  two  trained  nurses  and 
valet.'  Morrow  will  soon  bundle  those  good  ladies 
off.  'Great  interest  in  England — '  no  doubt.  'And 
some  criticism,'  naturally.  But  they'll  get  over  that." 
Mr.  Lanchester  opened  another  newspaper.  "Let 
us  see  how  he  stood  the  journey." 

"Very  well,"  said  Hilary.  "What  I  must  have  is 
some  wild  asters." 

"Apparently  very  well.  Hullo — what's  this? 
'Dr.  Morrow's  personal  appeal.'  Excellent  idea  to 
write  himself.  'All  that  can  be  published  to  meet 
the  natural  interest  of  the  country  in  the  welfare  of 
its  guest  will  be  given  to  the  press  through  recog- 
nized channels — '  and  he  practically  invites  the  pub- 
lic to  co-operate  with  him  in  making  the  treatment  a 
success  by  'assisting  to  maintain  the  conditions  of  abso- 
lute privacy  and  peace  which  are  essential  to  it.'  He's 
a  wily  beggar,  Morrow.  You  see,  he  doesn't  say 
keep  off;  he  says  keep  the  other  fellows  off.  Wise 
man.  Why — come  along!  He's  bringing  the 

134 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Prince  up  to  that  new  perch  of  his  on  Colter's  Island 
— they'll  be  within  a  dozen  miles'  drive  of  us." 

"I  wish,"  said  Hilary  with  detachment,  "that  the 
doctor  had  thought  of  appealing  to  the  public  to 
keep  away  from  you" 

"We  were  a  bit  worried,  weren't  we?  But  we 
were  at  home,  and  had  to  put  up  with  family  ways. 
This  young  man  is  company.  Well,  Morrow  will 
let  us  know,  I  suppose,  if  there  is  anything  we  can 
do." 

"He  has  let  us  know.  He  has  appealed  to  us 
through  the  papers  to  maintain  conditions  of  abso- 
lute privacy  and  peace  for  his  patient.  I  think  we 
should  be  the  first  to  respect  that  request,  Dad." 

"We  mustn't  seem  unfriendly.  I'll  write  to 
Morrow." 

"I  wouldn't.  The  doctor  will  understand.  He 
would  write  to  you  in  a  second,  if  there  should  be 
anything  we — you  could  do.  He  knows  that  we  are 
going  away  for  a  fortnight  anyway — I  saw  him  at 
Paul  Smith's  last  Friday,  and  told  him  so." 

Henry  Lanchester  turned  serious  eyeglasses  upon 
his  daughter. 

"But  dash  it,  Hil,  let  us  be  moderate  in  our  self- 
restraint.  Morrow  will  expect  a  word  of  some  sort. 
He  patched  me  up,  you  know,  when  I  was  a  public 
person  in  our  modest  American  sense  of  the  word. 
Why  shouldn't  I  cheer  him  on?" 

135 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Do — do  cheer  him  on.  But  wait  till  we  get  to 
the  Phippses,  and  send  him  a  wire  from  Oyster  Bay. 
Much  better,  Daddy." 

"Remind  me  of  it,  then,"  he  said,  and  Hilary 
promised  that  she  would. 

It  was  astonishing,  the  effect  of  Dr.  Morrow's 
personal  appeal.  The  country  was  proud  of  Dr. 
Morrow,  and  with  cause.  He  had  taken  a  line,  in 
his  treatment  of  phthisis,  so  based  on  the  American 
temperament,  so  characterized  by  American  meth- 
ods and  habits  of  thought,  as  to  place  his  notable 
victories  among  the  laurels  of  his  country.  His  long, 
lean  person  was  the  constant  victim  of  the  illustrated 
papers;  everybody  knew  something  about  his  daily 
life  a'nd  beliefs;  he  was  an  American  institution. 
That  the  case  of  Prince  Alfred  should  have  been 
wrested  from  the  skill  of  Europe  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Dr  Morrow,  refreshed  his  country  with 
that  wine  of  competition  which  was  still  her  favorite 
drink.  The  American  public,  breathlessly  desiring 
the  cure  of  the  Prince,  accepted  Dr.  Morrow's  in- 
structions. "It  is  now  up  to  us,"  announced  a  New 
York  paper  after  three  illustrated  columns  describ- 
ing the  preparations  on  Colter's  Island,  "to  forget 
that  he  is  there.  The  fellow  who  would  pry  upon 
this  young  Prince,  gamely  struggling  for  his  life  with 
the  help  and  protection  of  our  country,"  it  was  said, 
"deserves  to  be  shot  at  sight."  Colter's  Island  was 

136 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

marked  out  of  bounds  for  the  camping  parties  of 
the  year,  and  people  getting  off  the  train  at  Moose 
Lick,  the  nearest  station,  glanced  at  one  another  a 
little  searchingly,  to  be  quite  sure  that  they  harbored 
no  reporters. 

So  Alfred  sank,  with  every  tenderness,  into  the 
solitude,  high  and  sweet  and  strange,  of  the  Adiron- 
dack mountains,  and  the  care  of  an  odd-looking  fel- 
low with  bright  eyes  and  a  cadaverous  face,  who 
put  a  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  told  him  he  was  going 
to  get  better.  He  arrived  dropping  with  sleep,  and 
he  spent  the  first  twenty-four  hours  in  his  clothes, 
wrapped  up  in  furs  in  a  hammock  on  a  veranda. 
About  him  a  million  fir-fingers  pricked  in  a  wilder- 
ness dotted  with  quiet  lakes.  Through  a  fine  rain 
a  great  mountain  loomed  and  smiled.  There  was  a 
happy  balm  abroad,  a  still  delight  in  living.  Drow- 
sily Alfred  gave  his  spirit  to  the  clear,  sweet,  sane 
habitation  of  these  new  airs.  After  Catkin  had  taken 
off  his  boots,  he  closed  his  eyes  upon  the  faithful 
Catkin  and  would  not  be  aware  of  him.  He  took 
admonition  from  a  kind,  wise  face,  and  food  from 
a  kind,  wise  hand;  in  the  intervals  the  mountain,  too, 
seemed  to  speak  kindly  and  wisely.  When  he  defi- 
nitely woke  and  Dr.  Morrow  looked  into  his  sunken 
eyes,  the  physician  of  many  saw  there  a  little  star 
that  he  knew. 

Prince  Alfred  went  first  into  the  doctor's  cottage  for 

137 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

observation.  He  began  to  gain  noticeably  in  flesh 
almost  from  the  day  he  arrived,  as  was  natural  after 
the  fever,  and  Dr.  Morrow  attached  even  more 
weight  to  the  daily  ceremony  of  the  scales  than  they 
showed.  He  let  them  tell  their  flattering  tale,  add- 
ing nothing  to  it;  and  perhaps  because  this  was  new 
in  his  experience  Alfred  counted  the  figures  with 
more  and  more  interest.  It  appeared  to  be  some- 
thing he  was  doing  for  himself.  From  the  beginning 
Morrow  found  him  docile,  grateful,  touchingly  at- 
tentive to  orders,  but  lacking  in  something  that  the 
doctor  presently  diagnosed  as  outlook. 

"I  want  hope — I  can't  even  find  expectation,"  he 
wrote  to  Atkinson  in  Pittsburgh.  "Every  day  is  a 
page  which  he  hardly  thinks  it  worth  while  to  turn. 
He's  suffering  badly  from  predigested  life,  the  diet 
of  princes,  I  suppose.  I  should  like  to  drown  Van- 
deleur." 

Dr.  Morrow  could  not  drown  Vandeleur,  but 
within  a  week  he  had  made  away  with  the  nurses. 
They  were  not  necessary  to  his  system.  It  must  have 
been  difficult  to  tell  Mrs.  Gold  that  there  was  a  sys- 
tem to  which  she  was  unnecessary;  but  Dr.  Morrow 
did  it.  Catkin  struggled  gamely,  and  Alfred  him- 
self even  put  in  a  word  for  old  Cat ;  but  he  went  in 
the  same  ship. 

"Never  mind,  Catto,"  said  his  master.  "I  know 
it's  awful  for  a  chap  with  your  tummy,  going  back 

138 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

and  forth  like  this,  but  you  shall  have  something  to 
pin  on  your  coat  for  it — I'll  see  to  it  myself.  When 
I'm  dead,  you  know." 

"Oh,  sir,"  the  faithful  Catkin  had  replied. 
"Don't  talk  about  me.  And,  sir,  if  you  wouldn't 
speak  of  dyin'  when  I'm  a  shavin'  of  you — I  as 
nearly  as  possible  cut  you,  sir." 

Bag  and  baggage  they  all  went,  weeping  discreet 
tears.  Poor  Catkin's  sniff  Dr.  Morrow  pardoned, 
but  Mrs.  Gold's  handkerchief  was  a  red  flag  to  him. 

"It  isn't  because  he's  their  dear  patient;  it's  be- 
cause he's  their  darling  Prince,"  he  snorted.  "What 
an  atmosphere  for  a  human  being  to  get  well  in ! 
Mephitic !  Off  they  go." 

There  was  no  way  of  getting  rid  of  Vandeleur, 
but  after  a  day  or  two  of  observation  Dr.  Morrow 
decided  that  from  his  point  of  view  the  Colonel  was 
innocuous.  "He  isn't  soaked  in  it  like  the  others," 
said  the  doctor.  "Besides,  in  a  week  he'll  be  too  busy 
being  sorry  for  himself  in  this  place  to  matter  one  way 
or  the  other."  Vandy  wasn't  soaked  in  the  British 
tradition;  in  fact  it  hadn't  more  than  nicely  dyed  him, 
and  in  the  climate  of  the  state  of  New  York  it  began 
quite  perceptibly  to  fade — the  equerry  did,  the  guards- 
man and  the  C.B.  Dr.  Morrow's  bright  eye  noted 
the  process  with  interest;  and  he  arranged  longer  and 
longer  fishing  excursions  for  Colonel  Vandeleur,  who 
soon  betrayed  a  skill  in  catching  trout  and  pike  that 

139 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

washed  it  out  in  moments  of  enthusiasm  altogether. 
Between  Vandy  relapsing  and  Vandy  bored,  the  en- 
tourage, or  Court  Vandy  quickly  declined  into  little 
more  than  a  fourth  hand  at  bridge,  when  Dr.  Mor- 
row's young  partner  came  over  from  Sumach — an 
event  which  happened,  in  poor  Vandy's  opinion,  re- 
grettably seldom.  The  Princess  Georgina's  choice  of 
an  equerry  was  more  and  more  justified,  though  not 
perhaps  altogether  from  her  point  of  view. 

His  place  was  taken,  as  far  as  Dr.  Morrow  could 
arrange  it,  by  Abe  and  Riley.  Abe  and  Riley  were 
no  body-guardsmen  to  Prince  Alfred,  but  they 
showed  him  round.  It  was  Abe  and  Riley  who  built 
the  open  camp  of  pine  logs,  where  he  presently  went 
to  live,  built  it  under  his  eye  as  he  lay  in  the  ham- 
mock on  the  veranda.  Abe  it  was  who  first  an- 
nounced that  he  was  out  of  the  hammock  and  "inter- 
ferin'  ";  Riley  who  reported  him  "busy  as  a  switch 
engine"  bringing  the  spruce  boughs  for  the  roof  and 
spreading  the  balsam  for  the  bed.  Abe  and  Riley, 
whose  wooden  shack  smoked  round  the  point,  were 
the  whole  entourage,  if  we  add  Abe's  mother,  who 
had  only  one  tooth  and  hung  out  the  clothes.  She, 
poor  dear,  ought  to  be  added,  for  she  was  the  only 
one  who  showed  any  acquaintance  with  the  part, 
bowing  daily  from  the  hips  as  she  always  did,  with 
a  hand  on  each  of  them,  and  a  "Good  morning,  Your 
Majesty."  Far  from  such  sophistications  were  Abe 

140 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

and  Riley,  though  kind  and  good  in  the  manner  that 
goes  with  an  open  shirt  and  a  hairy  breast  inside  it. 
Unnaturally  silent  at  first,  commiseration  gave  them 
tongue,  and  it  was  soon  touched  with  affection.  His 
biddableness,  his  ordinary  trustful  air  of  waiting  to 
be  told,  made  him  seem  to  them  more  youthful  than 
he  was.  "Not  that  a-way,  sonny — don't  y'  remem- 
ber I  showed  ye  different  afore,"  sounded  earnestly 
across  the  clearing  to  the  doctor  on  the  veranda,  who 
smiled  into  his  newspaper  and  made  no  sign. 

Dr.  Morrow  had  been  obliged  to  grope  a  little — 
longer  than  he  liked — but  at  last  he  had  got  the  re- 
action he  wanted;  he  was  entitled  to  smile.  The 
Prince  was  pounds  heavier,  slept  like  a  baby,  fished 
with  Abe  and  Riley,  seemed  quite  content.  And  now 
there  were  undoubted  signs  that  the  tissue  was  be- 
ginning to  respond.  Dr.  Morrow  was  entitled  to  his 
smile.  Nevertheless  he  frowned  over  it,  sending  out 
colorless  advices  and  making  reports  to  Vandeleur 
which  distinctly  lagged  behind  the  achievement. 

"It's  going  to  be  all  right  for  now,"  he  grumbled 
to  his  assistant,  "but  five  years  hence  we  shall  have 
him  back.  He  wants  more  than  anybody  can  give 
him,  something  to  counteract  the  damned  alkaloid  of 
his  life  and  training,  that  neutralizes  the  very  vital 
spring  in  him." 

Abe  and  Riley  were  not  enough,  were  surely  not 
enough.  The  wilderness  was  not  enough. 

141 


CHAPTER   XIV 

SO  far  it  had  been  the  Adirondack  guide-boat 
for  expeditions,  light  and  quick  and  sure,  and 
Abe  or  Riley,  or  both,  had  accompanied  to  row 
and  portage,  and  Alfred  had  mainly  fished.  One 
evening  the  buckboard  went  to  Moose  Lick  and 
came  back  with  a  canoe.  Abe  slid  it  into  the  water 
when  all  the  light  of  the  sky  seemed  to  be  moored 
there,  and  Prince  Alfred  and  Dr.  Morrow,  looking 
on,  stood  already  in  the  brightness  of  the  evening 
bonfire. 

"To-morrow  morning,"  said  the  doctor,  as  it  was 
made  fast,  "Abe  shall  take  you  out  in  that  and  show 
you  how  to  manage  it.  For  the  exploration  of 
these  water  highways  of  ours  there  is  nothing  like 
it." 

"Delightful,"  said  Prince  Alfred.  "Quite  safe  to 
leave  the  paddles  out?" 

"Quite,"  said  the  doctor.  "The  last  Mohawk  left 
these  parts  some  time  ago,  Prince." 

"Ah,"  said  Alfred.  "Now  you're  ragging.  I 
think  it's  my  bedtime.  Good  night,  doctor." 

142 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Next  morning,  when  Abe  came  round  the  point  to 
do  the  chores,  which  was  early,  the  canoe  had  van- 
ished. Abe  was  not  disturbed,  but  made  his  way, 
full  of  morning  leisure,  to  the  camp  where  Prince 
Alfred's  bed  was  also  empty. 

"Doctor's  took  him  out,"  said  Abe,  still  unper- 
turbed, and  went  about  his  work.  Presently  Dr. 
Morrow  appeared,  looking  for  his  patient,  who  wa's 
seldom  late  for  breakfast ;  and  then  it  was  plain  that 
the  Prince  and  the  canoe  had  gone  together.  The 
little  group  on  the  shore  looked  at  one  another  rather 
blankly. 

"He  didn't  say  he  knew  anything  about  a  canoe," 
said  the  doctor  to  Vandeleur.  "Does  he?" 

"He  was  fond  of  the  river  at  Oxford,"  Vandy 
said,  with  an  alarmed  eye  on  the  empty  reaches. 

"So  long  as  he  keeps  off  them  rapids  round  by  the 
Neck,"  remarked  Riley. 

"He  may  not  a-gone  that  way  at  all,"  Abe  con- 
tributed; "but  he  don't  figure  on  bein'  back  for  break- 
fast. He's  took  a  hunk  of  boiled  bacon  an'  about 
half  a  pan  o'  cornbread  I  baked  last  night.  He's 
fixed  up  till  dinner,  anyhow." 

Colonel  Vandy  had  got  out  of  his  coat.  "I'll  take 
the  skiff,"  he  said.  "You  two  men " 

"I  don't  think,  Vandeleur,  that  he  would  take  the 
canoe  out  unless  he  knew  how  to  manage  it,"  said 
Dr.  Morrow.  "We'll  give  him  an  hour  or  so.  I 

143 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

am  very  well  pleased  that  he  has  gone,  and  I  par- 
ticularly don't  want  to  chase  him." 

But  Vandy  was  in  the  skiff  and  a  boat  length 
out. 

"That's  all  right,  doctor,  from  your  point  of  view, 
but  he  had  no  business,  confound  him,  to  go  off  like 
this  without  telling  me"  he  called  out,  "and  when 
I  find  him  I'll  tell  him  so." 

"Then  I  hope  you  don't  find  him,"  said  Dr.  Mor- 
row to  himself,  and  Vandy  didn't.  He  came  very 
near  it  though,  at  a  point  about  three  miles  up  Wa- 
sitah  inlet,  where  the  canoe  was  drawn  in  behind  a 
thicket  of  tamarack  and  raspberry  bushes;  and  on 
a  grassy  hump  beside  it  Alfred  sat,  satisfying  the 
most  gorgeous  hunger  of  his  life  on  fat  bacon  and 
corn-pone.  Through  the  leaves  he  saw  his  equerry 
laboring  at  the  oar,  and  though  he  must  have  known 
with  what  purpose,  he  made  no  sign.  Instead,  he 
kept  so  still  that  a  chipmunk  came  after  crumbs.  It 
was  his  first  sweet  moment  of  freedom;  Vandy 
seemed  to  coast  round  it,  ineffective  and  absurd. 
"Handles  an  oar  very  well,"  Alfred  reflected,  with  a 
smile  of  irony  and  detachment,  as  the  skiff  shot  on- 
ward. "This  is  not  nice  of  me,"  he  murmured,  "not 
at  all  nice,"  and  lighted  a^  cigarette,  which  was 
against  orders.  He  smoked  another  before  he  began 
to  paddle  peacefully  back,  and  Dr.  Morrow  smelled 
them  on  him  when  he  turned  up  to  apologize  for  his 

144 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

absence  at  breakfast,  having  passed  Abe  and  Riley, 
apparently  fishing,  half  way. 

"So  it  wasn't  safe,"  laughed  the  doctor,  "to  leave 
the  paddles  out.  Well,  this  gives  you  the  key  of  the 
woods,  Prince." 

Vandy  took  it  less  philosophically,  and  held  him- 
self remote  for  some  hours  after  he  had  changed. 

"Stuffy,"  commented  Prince  Alfred  kindly.  "It 
did  him  a  lot  of  good,  though.  Vandy's  getting 
much  too  fat." 

Vandy  was  stuffy  quite  often  as  the  days  went  on, 
and  it  became  plain  that  the  less  Alfred  saw  of  his 
equerry,  the  better  Dr.  Morrow  was  pleased.  The 
doctor  seemed  indifferent  as  to  how  his  patient 
amused  himself,  asserted  no  control,  displayed  no 
tact,  suggested  nothing,  praised  not  at  all.  A  pleas- 
ant, rather  critical  interest  in  as  much  of  his  day's 
doings  as  he  chose  to  tell  was  all  that  Alfred  had  to 
meet  from  this  physician;  he  told  more  and  more. 
The  canoe  became  his  favorite  companion;  hours  he 
spent  in  it,  happy  and  alone.  Vandy,  as  became  a 
pleasant  fellow,  got  over  his  stuffiness,  caught  record 
trout,  and  discovered  himself  absorbed  in  the  New 
York  Sunday  papers. 

Nothing  did  Prince  Alfred  ever  see  in  his  explor- 
ings,  except  now  and  then  some  little  shy  animal  that 
was  new  to  him,  and  the  reflection  under  the  bows 
of  his  canoe  of  a  gaunt  young  man  in  an  American 

145 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

sweater  that  was  familiar,  until  one  afternoon,  at  a 
clearing  by  the  water's  edge,  he  came  upon  a  woods- 
man whom  he  obliged  with  a  match. 

They  were  both  sociable.  "Come  fur?"  asked 
the  man,  lighting  his  pipe. 

"Moose  Lick,"  said  Alfred,  "is  my  post-office. 
It's  a  pretty  place." 

"I've  seen  homelier.  That's  a  good  ways,  too. 
Best  come  ashore  a  bit,  hadn't  ye  ?  Y'look  all  tuck- 
ered out." 

Alfred  came  ashore,  and  learned  that  the  ranger 
was  there  to  blaze  out  a  piece  of  land  for  a  party 
from  Utica. 

"What  is  he  going  to  do  with  it?" 

"Well,  he  reckons  to  put  up  a  hotel  here  nex'  sum- 
mer. Y'see,  Moose  Lick  hev  come  into  sech  promi- 
nence lately,  on  account  of  the  Prince  an'  all,  that 
this  party  thinks  it'll  be  a  payin'  proposition.  Now 
they've  got  a  branch  line  through  to  Delville,  he  con- 
siders it  won't  be  the  same  trouble  to  get  truck  here 
— he  kin  strike  into  the  road  to  Colter's  about  a  mile 
from  this,  an'  get  his  connection  that  way.  Person- 
ally I  think  it's  a  fool  place  for  a  hotel,  but  then 
I'm  not  payin'  for  it." 

"So  do  I,"  Alfred  told  him. 

"Ever  seen  the  Prince?" 

"I  have — yes.  He's  nearly  always  about  where 
I  am,"  he  added  dejectedly. 

146 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"You  don't  say!  I  thought  they  was  keepin'  the 
public  off.  I'd  admire  to  see  him  myself." 

"No,  you  wouldn't,"  said  Alfred.  "What  tobacco 
is  that  you're  smoking?" 

"Ladybird.  Now,  won't  you  light  up?  I've  got 
a  second  pipe  somewhere  in  my  clothes."  He 
searched  them  thoroughly  and  produced  it.  Alfred 
did  not  hesitate,  but  packed  the  bowl  full  from  the 
horny  hand  extended. 

"That's  right.  'Be  free  and  easy  or  be  lonesome' 
— that's  what  we  say  in  the  mountains.  My  name's 
Kinehan." 

"Mine  is  Wettin,"  said  Alfred,  direct  descendant 
of  Albert  the  Good,  though  it  was  often  forgotten. 

"From  New  York,  I  dessay?" 

"I  came  over  from  Canada." 

"That  so?  Well,  we  get  a  right  smart  o'  Cana- 
dians round  here,  summer  time.  What " 

"This  the  end  of  the  lake?"  asked  Alfred. 

"Well,  it  is  and  it  isn't.  There's  half  a  mile  o' 
ma'sh  an'  muskeg  afore  ye  get  to  Old  Loon,  but  it's 
less  land  than  water." 

"Any  portage  ?" 

"Yes,  there  is  one.  It  ain't  laid  down  on  any  map, 
but  I  been  acrost  often.  Like  me  to  show  ye?" 

Alfred  hesitated  and  looked  at  the  canoe.  "I 
would — awfully,"  he  said,  "but " 

"Too  heavy  for  ye,  is  she?" 

147 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Not  ordinarily,  but  I  haven't  been  well." 

"I'll  carry  for  you.  Just  as  soon  as  not.  It  isn't 
everybody  knows  this  portage — you  oughtn't  to  miss 
learnin'  it,"  his  friend  assured  him,  and  got  the  canoe 
into  place  upon  his  head. 

The  portage  was  less  than  half  a  mile.  Old  Loon 
Lake  sent  a  sweet  and  secret  arm  up  to  meet  it. 
There  Kinehan  showed  him  the  fresh  prints  of  deer. 

"That  shows  it  ain't  fashionable,"  he  said,  and 
put  the  canoe  into  the  water.  "Now  shall  I  paddle 
you  out  into  the  open,  and  show  you  the  prettiest 
stretch  of  water  in  the  mountains?" 

"Would  you  mind,"  said  Alfred,  "if  I  went  by 
myself?  I " 

"Not  a  mite — not  a  mite.  Some  feels  that  way,  I 
know.  'Twon't  take  ye  more  than  twenty  minutes 
or  so.  I'll  have  a  pipe." 

"Half  an  hour.  Give  me  half  an  hour,  will  you — 
if  it  really  isn't  inconveniencing  you?"  said  Alfred, 
pushing  out.  "It  looks  ripping,  and  I'm  awfully 
obliged,"  and  Kinehan  agreed. 

Prince  Alfred,  paddling  through  the  green  shad- 
ows toward  the  line  of  green  light,  competed  with 
pioneers  and  all  hardy  men.  The  joy  of  discovery 
was  at  his  heart;  he  paddled  ever  so  gently,  kneel- 
ing in  the  bows  and  pushing  aside,  without  a  sound, 
the  dead  leaves  that  crowded  round  his  paddle.  He 
felt  wonderfully  happy,  and  said  to  himself,  as  the 

148 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

canoe  stole  fast  to  the  gleam  of  the  open,  "There 
can't  be  anything  better  than  this."  Where  the  arm 
joined  the  lake  the  trees  came  over;  it  was  low  like 
a  door;  the  branches  made  an  arch  with  a  point,  an 
early  English  arch,  designed  long  ago.  And  under 
it,  kneeling  in  his  canoe,  Prince  Alfred  suddenly  ap- 
peared with  his  paddle  poised;  and  before  he  could 
dip  it  again  he  had  seen  the  girl  in  a  boat  half  full  of 
water  lilies  a  little  way  farther  down  the  opposite 
shore,  whom  he  looked  at  curiously  for  an  instant, 
thinking  her  very  like  Hilary  Lanchester.  She,  when 
he  came  into  the  picture,  had  no  doubt  (because  in 
her  dreams  she  had  so  often  seen  him  there),  but 
immediately  sent  him  a  smile.  At  which  he  fell  to 
paddling  with  a  stroke  that  was  incredibly  swift  and 
strong  and  sure. 


CHAPTER   XV 

HALFWAY  across  he  took  off  his  cap  and 
waved  it  to  give  her  to  understand  that  it 
was  really  he.  Then  as  he  brought  himself 
within  a  paddle  length,  "What  in  the  name  of  won- 
der," he  demanded,  "are  you  doing  here?" 

"Getting  these,"  she  told  him,  and  lifted  a  lily. 
It  had  very  perfect  beauty,  but  he  did  not  see  it;  she 
held  it  too  near  her  face. 

"But  where  have  you  come  from?"  he  insisted, 
looking  round  him  for  a  palace  or  a  grotto. 

She  pointed  to  a  splash  of  white  far  down  and 
half  hidden  in  the  woods  of  the  other  side.  "We 
live  there,"  she  said.  "Isn't  it  lucky  to  find  lilies  so 
close!  I  want  these  for  the  table  to-night — one  of 
father's  former  secretaries  is  coming  to  dinner.  Quite 
accidentally  and  privately,  of  course,  but " 

Alfred  looked  at  her  as  if  he  had  barely  heard. 

"You  are  living  here!     Since  when?" 

"Since — since  July,"  she  told  him. 

"And  pray  why  didn't  I  know?  Why  wasn't  I 
told?"  he  required  of  her,  all  the  prince. 


'HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"You  must  have  heard,"  she  protested,  "that  the 
public  were  requested " 

"The  public!  You  Americans,  you  know,"  he  ex- 
plained with  fervent  seriousness,  "you  are  extreme — 
very  extreme." 

"But  perhaps  you  don't  know  very  well  what  is 
good  for  you,"  she  told  him  primly. 

"I  do  know — very  well — what  is  good  for  me," 
he  said,  and  somehow  must  have  expressed  rather 
more,  for  Hilary  could  not  make  herself  believe  later 
that  she  had  not  blushed  at  that  point.  "Though  I 
don't  believe  I  ever  knew  before,"  he  added. 

"Are  you  really  better?"  she  asked,  with  her  heart 
and  her  eyes  and  her  lips.  "And  do  you  like  it  here  ?" 

"Amazingly,"  he  told  her,  and  gave  her  a  shy, 
speculative  glance.  "Can  you  keep  a  secret?" 

"I've  kept  lots  of  father's." 

He  considered.  "I  may  tell  you  one  presently. 
Yes,  I  can  make  out  your  house  quite  well.  Are  you 
a  large  party  there?" 

"Only  father  and  me  and  one  maid  and  Enoch," 
he  learned. 

"Who  is  Enoch?" 

"Our  man." 

"For  doing  the  chores?" 

"Yes,"  she  smiled.  "Nobody  else  at  all,  except 
by  accident  sometimes,  like  the  person  to-night. 
Father  won't  have  people.  He  prefers  to  be  just 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

us  two.  That  is  very  remarkable,  and  I  am  very 
proud  of  it." 

"I  don't  think  it  remarkable,"  Alfred  told  her. 
"If  I  had  a  daughter,  I  should  like  nothing  better 
than  to  do  that.  If  she  was  pleasant.  But  I  never 
shall  have  one,  pleasant  or  unpleasant,"  he  astonish- 
ingly confided.  "Luckily  I  shan't  be  obliged  to 
marry." 

She  looked  at  him  with  immense  interest.  Was 
this  the  secret? 

"Luckily?" 

"Oh,  yes.  I  shall  never  be  well  enough,  you  know, 
'for  that.  I've  worried  it  all  out,  and  it  doesn't  suit 
me  badly.  Because  anything  of  the  sort  would  drag 
me  home,  and  I  mean  to  have  a  shot — "  He  looked 
at  her  questioningly  again 

"Ah,  do  tell  me." 

He  made  up  his  mind,  and  trusted  her. 

"At  staying  over  here." 

"Oh,  no!"  she  cried.     "Impossible!" 

"Would  you  mind,"  he  asked  her  politely,  "not 
using  that  word?  I  am  so  tired  of  it.  And  how- 
ever impossible  it  is,  I  mean  to  do  it.'* 

"How?"  she  demanded  breathlessly.  The  lilies 
were  drooping  in  the  bottom,  of  the  boat. 

"I  shall  never  be  well  enough  to  do  anything," 
he  brought  out  firmly,  "but  ranch  in  Colorado.  That 
doesn't  matter  so  much  as  you  might  think,  because 

152 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

in  England  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  do.  And  I 
should  like  ranching  there." 

"But " 

"I've  talked  it  over  with  Dr.  Morrow — "  he 
played  his  trump  card — "and  he  will  recommend  it. 
They  can't  get  round — I  mean  that  is  very  impor- 
tant. I  think  we  shall  bring  it  off.  But  I  don't  know 
why  I  should  worry  you  about  it.  I  say — do  come 
and  meet  the  doctor.  He's  delightful." 

"I  can't  to-day,"  she  said  demurely,  with  her  mind 
whirling  to  Colorado.  "Besides,  we  know  him  al- 
ready. He's  a  darling.  Father  wouldn't  be  alive 
now  but  for  him." 

"Really!     Was  he  attached  to  your  father?" 

"Yes,  I  think  so.  I  know  father  is  attached  to 
him,"  she  jested,  and  took  up  an  oar. 

"Oh,  yes.  I  say — when  may  Vandy  and  I  paddle 
over  and  see  your  father?  I  mean — would  it  bore 
him?  He  does  see  people  sometimes,  you  said." 

"I  think  he  would  like  it  immensely.  Any  time." 
She  took  up  the  other  oar. 

"To-morrow,  then?" 

"He  will  be  there  to-morrow,  in  the  afternoon. 
Good-by,  then,  for  now." 

She  was  dipping  and  pulling;  he  could  but  put  his 
paddle  in. 

"Good-by.     Would  about  five  be  convenient?" 

"Perfectly."     She  was  more  than  a  boat  length 

153 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

away,  and  he  still  irresolute  among  the  rushes.  He 
remembered  Kinehan,  and  swung  round  and  out. 
Then  he  remembered  something  else. 

"I  say,"  he  called  after  her.  "Did  you  get  the 
button?" 

It  was  far  from  fair;  she  was  off  her  guard.  But 
he  could  not  possibly  guess  why  her  hand  went  so 
quickly  to  her  neck,  where  a  fine  little  chain  of  steel 
held  much  too  strongly  for  any  betrayal. 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  returned  to  him  across  the  widen- 
ing water.  "Thank  you  very  much." 

That  was  all,  and  it  sent  him  paddling  back  to 
Kinehan  with  a  slight  feeling  of  dissatisfaction. 
He  would  have  liked  to  know,  quite  awfully,  what 
she  had  done  with  the  button.  He  had  often  won- 
dered, and  decided  that  it  would  make  at  least  a  hat- 
pin. 

Kinehan  was  there,  waiting,  and  Alfred  made  him 
blaze  the  portage  back. 

"I'm  tremendously  obliged  to  you,"  he  said,  as 
the  last  chip  flew.  "1  shall  certainly  come  this  way 
again."  He  searched  the  pockets  of  his  trousers  and 
collected  what  he  could. 

"All  I've  got,  I'm  afraid,"  he  said,  handing  the 
loose  silver  to  the  ranger,  who  waved  it  back. 

"No,"  he  said.  "You  keep  your  money.  You 
may  be  school-teachin',  or  you  may  be  bank-clerkin' ; 
but  anyways,  before  ye  get  home  from  your  holidays 

154 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

you'll  want  it  more  than  I  do.  I  kin  make  my  own 
livin',  thank  ye  all  the  same." 

"Can  you?"  said  Alfred.  "In  that  case,"  he  re- 
flected rather  than  replied,  "what  you  say  may  be 
true,"  and  he  repocketed  the  coins.  "But  look  here," 
he  said  in  sudden  happy  spirits,  "you  have  done  me 
a  service,  you  know.  I  must  give  you  something." 
He  felt  about  himself;  he  looked  about  himself,  but 
there  was  nothing — nothing  but  his  wrist  watch,  the 
gift  of  his  Aunt  Georgina.  It  was  only  a  gun-metal 
watch,  but  inconspicuously  on  the  inner  case  the  letter 
A  was  picked  out  in  tiny  brilliants.  He  took  it  off 
without  a  pang. 

"I  am  sure  this  would  be  useful  to  you,"  he  said, 
"and  I've  got  another  at  home." 

It  was  years  before  the  story  got  about,  and  no- 
body ever  learned  exactly  how  valuable  the  service 
was  for  which  the  Prince  had  given  his  watch  to  the 
ranger. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

PRINCE  ALFRED  did  not  meet  his  equerry 
until  next  morning  at  breakfast,  when  Colonel 
Vandy  came  in  with  a  telegram  in  his  hand, 
looking  as  if  life  after  all  had  moments  that  were 
worth  living. 

"I've  had  a  wireless  from  the  Taffy  Mortimers," 
he  announced.  "They  arrive  to-morrow  morning  by 
the  Morvania.  They  don't  say  'Meet  us,'  but  if  I 
could  have  a  day  or  two  off,  sir " 

"Rather,  Vandy,"  said  Prince  Alfred.  "I'm  be- 
ginning to  walk  alone  quite  nicely,  aren't  I,  doctor? 
When  shall  you  start?" 

"Most  of  the  liners  make  the  docks  about  ten  in 
the  morning,"  Dr.  Morrow  observed.  "You  must 
go  to-day,  of  course.  There's  a  good  train  at  Moose 
Lick  at  noon.  Abe  can  drive  you  over  if  you  like." 

"Not  Abe,  please,"  said  Alfred,  "I  shall  want  him 
later.  But  Riley  can  go,  doctor.  All  right,  Vandy. 
I  say — why  not  take  a  week?  The  Mortimers  would 
adore  to  have  you  escort  them  round,  and  I'll  get 
along  somehow  " 

156 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Very  good  of  you,  I'm  sure,  but  impossible,  sir, 
I'm  afraid.  It  wouldn't  be  at  all  understood — I 
mean  I  shouldn't  at  all  care  about  a  week." 

Vandy  quailed  under  a  reminding  glance  from  Dr. 
Morrow. 

"But  a  couple  of  days — if  you  really  think  I 
might " 

"Fly,  Vandy,  and  do  all  you  know  for  Mrs. 
Taffy,"  Alfred  told  him,  over  his  third  cup  of  coffee. 
"I  make  only  one  stipulation — that  you  don't  bring 
her  within  a  hundred  miles  of  this.  Personally,  I 
am  making  a  call  this  afternoon,  Vandy.  On  Mr. 
ex-President  Lanchester,  who  lives  on  the  next  lake. 
But  you  needn't  worry.  It's  quite  informal,  though 
I'll  take  you  another  time  if  you're  good." 

"But  in  that  case — "  bristled  Vandy. 

"Not  at  all,  Colonel — not  at  all.  Abe  shall  port- 
age me,  and  I'll  do  the  rest  myself,"  Alfred  assured 
him,  and  Vandy,  who  by  now  knew  that  when  he 
was  addressed  as  Colonel,  further  discussion  was  apt 
to  be  unfruitful,  went  off  to  pack.  That  was  Satur- 
day. Vandy  would  take  Sunday. 

Dr.  Morrow  had  beamed  on  the  adventure.  "If 
I  had  known  you  knew  them,  I  would  have  got  hold 
of  the  Lanchesters  before,"  he  said.  "They  can't 
do  you  anything  but  good.  Talk  to  Lanchester  about 
your  ranching  scheme,  Prince.  He's  the  very  man 
to  advise  you." 

157 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

As  Alfred  paddled  up  the  north  arm  of  Old  Loon 
Lake  that  afternoon  at  a  quarter  past  four,  looking 
very  like  himself  in  boating  flannels,  he  wondered 
whether  he  would.  The  ranching  scheme  had  taken 
such  possession  of  his  imagination  that  he  saw  life 
nowhere  else.  The  innocent  Abe  had  started  it  there 
with  tales  of  other  patients;  Dr.  Morrow  had  caught 
at  it;  it  had  been  perfect  food  for  the  American 
microbe  now  flourishing  in  his  veins.  Long  hours 
he  had  thought  about  it  and  worked  it  out,  sitting 
with  his  fishing-rod  in  the  sweet  primeval  solitudes 
that  so  invited  him,  hours  in  which  the  Princess 
Georgina  in  England  was  preparing  an  excellent  bar- 
gain for  him  in  a  country  house  on  the  Berkshire 
downs,  and  Sir  Randolph  Perry  was  expressing  to 
his  intimates  the  belief  that  he  would  occupy  it  not 
longer  than  three  years  at  the  most  hopeful  calcu- 
lation. 

All  his  life,  while  he  was  well,  this  Prince  had 
coveted  the  common  lot;  now  in  his  weakness  the 
opportunity  seemed  to  have  come. 

No,  he  would  not  return.  He  would  take  up  land 
out  there  and  raise  cattle.  He  would  send  for  his 
dog,  and  for  Henry  Hake  who  had  charge  of  it. 
Hake  worked  on  a  big  stud  farm  in  Norfolk;  Hake 
knew  a  lot.  As  to  allowances,  if  there  was  any  dif- 
ficulty, he  always  understood  he  had  something  of 
his  own,  and  it  wouldn't  be  long  before  he  could 

158 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

pay  his  way.  If  the  worst  came  to  the  worst,  there 
was  a  railway  company  that  helped  you  a  bit  in  the 
beginning  with  stock  and  so  forth — no,  that  was  in 
Canada ;  but  it  must  be  the  same  on  this  side.  This 
was  the  country,  not  Canada,  for  his  special  require- 
ments. In  Canada  they  would  worry  him,  on  account 
of  his  birth.  They  would  be  practically  compelled  to 
worry  him ;  it  wouldn't  do.  But  in  Colorado  it  would 
be  different.  In  Colorado  he  would  be  just  a  rancher 
earning  his  living — paying  his  way.  His  bosom 
swelled. 

Morrow  was  all  for  it,  and  now  Morrow,  he  re- 
flected as  the  dark  water  slid  past,  advised  consult- 
ing Lanchester.  It  was  also  true  that  Lanchester 
was  Hilary's  father,  and  probably  no  end  of  a  good 
chap.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was,  or  had  been,  a 
politician,  a  fellow,  in  Alfred's  experience,  whose 
arguments  were  just  as  likely  to  be  against  you  as 
for  you,  and  unanswerable  in  any  case.  He  would 
be  careful,  at  all  events,  not  to  put  himself  in  the 
position  of  being  obliged  to  accept  Lanchester's 
advice. 

As  he  drew  nearer  he  made  out  the  ex-President 
coming  down  through  the  clearing,  a  tall  figure,  even 
more  significant  there  in  the  woods  than  it  would  be 
in  the  streets  of  cities.  Lanchester  grasped  the  canoe 
and  they  beached  it  together.  Then  as  Alfred 
sprang  out  of  it,  they  ceremoniously  lifted  their 

159 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

straw  hats  to  one  another  and  shook  hands,  each 
quite  remembering,  there  in  the  pine-trimmed  wilder- 
ness, who  and  what  he  was. 

"This  is  an  immense  pleasure,  Your  Highness." 

It  was  the  merest  instant  of  mutual  measurement ; 
it  faded  on  a  glance  into  kindliness  and  good-fellow- 
ship. 

"Isn't  it!"  Alfred  agreed,  as  they  turned  together 
into  the  path. 

"The  marvel  is  your  being  able  to  do  so  much  so 
soon.  We  have  reason  to  congratulate  ourselves. 
But  Morrow  is  a  great  fellow." 

"Not  half  such  good  reason  as  I,"  Alfred  told 
him,  "and  it's  uncommonly  kind  of  you  to  let  me  hop 
over  like  this.  My  equerry,"  he  added  earnestly, 
"I  hope  you  don't  mind — but  he  more  or  less  had  to 
go  to  New  York  to-day." 

Mr.  Lanchester's  smile  conveyed  that  he  did  not 
'feel  himself  slighted.  He  went  on  talking  about 
Morrow  as  they  walked  to  the  house.  There  were 
no  flower-beds;  it  was  no  more  than  a  lodge  in  the 
wilderness,  but  it  had  a  veranda,  hospitable  with 
rugs  and  big  wicker  chairs.  Alfred's  eye  searched 
the  veranda,  but  it  was  otherwise  empty.  They  sat 
down  there,  it  was  the  pleasantest  place,  still  talking 
of  Morrow;  and  after  an  interval,  Alfred  said  that 
he  hoped  Miss  Lanchester  was  well. 

"Quite  well,  thanks,"  her  father  told  him,  "and 

1 60 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

at  the  moment,  I  imagine,  in  the  kitchen  boiling  the 
kettle.  We,  too,  have  lost  our  staff  to-day.  She 
has  gone  to  the  circus  at  Moose  Lick." 

"Oh,  but,  couldn't  I — I  mean,  couldn't  we — " 
Alfred  paused,  blushing  furiously,  and  Mr.  Lanches- 
ter  gravely  helped  him  out. 

"Be  of  any  use?  We  might.  Shall  we  go  and 
see?" 

They  went  through  the  living-room  toward  the 
kitchen,  and  it  was  odd  that  the  heart  of  an  English 
prince  should  beat  so  high  in  an  American  pantry. 
As  they  opened  the  door,  Hilary,  in  a  big  blue  apron, 
was  bending  over  the  oven. 

"Oh,  Dad,"  she  mourned,  pushing  the  pan  back 
again,  "I've  been  trying  tea  biscuits,  and  they're  such 
a  bad  success." 

For  just  a  funny  perceptible  instant  the  two  comers 
stood  silent,  with  a  half  guilty  sense  of  being  some- 
where, somehow,  where  it  was  not  lawful  or  ex- 
pedient for  them  to  be,  and  then  she  flashed  round  at 
them. 

"Oh!"  she  cried  out  upon  them.  "You  must  be 
very  hungry."  To  invade  her  like  that,  she  clearly 
implied.  "How  do  you  do,  Prince  Alfred?" 

"We  are,"  he  defended  himself  as  they  shook 
hands.  Hers  was  still  dusted  white  with  her  baking; 
he  closed  his  fingers  carefully  on  the  trace  that  came 
off.  "Mr.  Lanchester  thought,"  he  explained,  "that 

161 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

we  might  help.  I  hope  the  bread  and  butter  isn't  cut. 
I  don't  wish  to  boast,  but  I'm  rather  a  dab  at  cut- 
ting bread  and  butter." 

"Let  us  all  cut  bread  and  butter,"  moved  Mr. 
Lanchester,  but  Alfred  protected  the  loaf. 

"Believe  me,"  he  said  earnestly,  "you  won't  do  it 
as  well  as  I.  Couldn't  you,  sir,  get  out  the  jam?" 

Mr.  Lanchester  met  his  daughter's  eye  and 
laughed.  "I'm  afraid,"  he  said,  "there  isn't  any 
jam,  Prince.  But  have  you  nothing,  Hil,  of  a  jammy 
disposition?  Couldn't  we  run  to  some  crab-apple 
jelly?"  He  looked  hopefully  toward  the  dresser. 

"The  next  to  top  shelf,  on  the  right,"  Hilary  com- 
manded. As  the  jar  appeared,  "I  made  it,"  she  told 
Prince  Alfred,  dealing  faithfully  with  the  bread  and 
butter,  and  he  looked  at  her,  as  that  daughter  of  Eve 
knew  he  would,  with  more  admiration  than  ever. 

They  made  the  tea  and  found  the  tray  and  talked 
with  much  naturalness  and  some  little  humor,  and 
were  ready  to  carry  all  to  the  veranda,  where  they 
were  to  have  it  for  the  view,  when  a  sudden  smell 
of  burning  came  and  expanded  in  the  kitchen  air. 
"My  biscuits!"  cried  Hilary,  but  Alfred  was  at  the 
oven  door  with  his  handkerchief,  and  had  the  pan 
out  before  her.  The  three  considered  the  charred 
remains. 

"I  put  you  off,"  declared  Alfred  contritely,  "ask- 
ing for  jam." 

162 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"They  deserved  to  be  forgotten,"  Hilary  said. 
"They  were  as  flat  as  flat." 

"We  should  have  remembered,  Prince,"  twinkled 
Mr.  Lanchester,  "that  you  would  be  a  dangerous 
fellow  in  a  kitchen.  If  you  had  any  historical  sense, 
Hil,  you  would  be  scolding  him  severely." 

The  two  young  people  looked  at  one  another,  and 
as  Hilary  turned  away  her  head,  she  said  quite 
divinely,  "But  he  isn't  refuging  here  from  his  ene- 
mies, Dad." 

"I  have  been  told,"  said  Alfred  reflectively,  "that 
I  have  enemies  in  Europe,  but  I  am  sure  I  have  none 
in  America.  Shall  I  take  the  tray  or  the  teapot,  Miss 
Lanchester?" 

"Father  will  bring  the  tray,  I  will  bring  the  tea- 
pot, and  will  you  please  bring  your  beautiful  bread 
and  butter?"  Hilary  told  him,  and  in  this  procession 
they  went. 

Perhaps  when  you  can  chaff  a  prince  about  his  for- 
bears there  is  no  barrier  of  any  great  importance  left 
to  friendly  intercourse.  There  seemed,  at  all  events, 
to  be  none  that  day.  No  doubt  Alfred's  heart, 
already  gentle  toward  Hilary,  opened  the  more 
trustfully  to  Hilary's  father,  and  Hilary's  father  was 
a  man  to  be  trusted  with  any  heart.  It  was  not,  cer- 
tainly, only  his  own  head  that  made  him  so  important 
to  his  country  that  she  could  never  leave  him  alone 
in  his  retirement;  it  was  his  generous  share  of  every- 

163 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

thing  that  makes  a  man  no  more  valuable  than  dear. 
"Lanchester's  character  so  touches  everything  he 
does,"  said  his  more  friendly  enemies,  "that  he's  a 
positive  danger  in  a  democratic  country."  Perhaps 
that  is  why  this  English  prince  found  such  comfort 
with  him,  and  ate  his  bread  and  butter  with  such 
serenity  of  soul.  In  half  an  hour  Alfred  had  for- 
gotten that  he  ever  made  stipulations  with  himself 
about  confiding  in  Henry  Lanchester.  In  another, 
his  whole  scheme,  his  dear  plan  for  living  and  doing 
in  the  freedom  of  a  man's  estate,  was  out  and  before 
them  on  the  veranda.  Hilary,  as  he  talked  and  told, 
looked  far  out  on  the  water,  but  Lanchester  listened 
closely.  His  smile  gave  Alfred  all  his  good  will  and 
pleasure,  his  eyes  thought  of  other  things.  Things 
to  be  acknowledged  and  conceded,  counted  and  bal- 
anced, but  perceptible  among  them  the  American 
conviction  that  there  was  nothing,  after  all,  that 
could  not  be  done. 

"Don't  say  it's  impossible,  sir,"  Alfred  finished, 
"because  if  you  do  I  shall  be  horribly  inclined  to  be- 
lieve you." 

"Let  me  think  it  over,"  said  Lanchester,  non- 
committally,  and  Alfred,  whose  instinct  for  such 
things  was  subtle,  felt  that  he  had  taken  the  enter- 
prise upon  his  shoulders. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

ON  Monday  Mr.  Lanchester  returned  Prince 
Alfred's  visit,  and  stayed  to  luncheon. 
Vandy  was  punctually  back,  and  did  every- 
thing that  a  fellow  deprived  of  his  uniform  could 
do  to  make  the  occasion  what  it  ought  to  be.  It 
was,  no  doubt,  the  Taffy  Mortimers  who  had  re- 
called him  to  a  sense  of  the  capacity  he  was  there 
in,  and  the  gravity  of  its  duties,  the  Taffys  with 
their  hushed  inquiries  and  their  religious  eyes  when 
the  talk  was  of  the  Prince.  Colonel  Vandy  cer- 
tainly returned  from  New  York  with  the  convic- 
tion that  it  was  time  for  them  to  pull  themselves  to- 
gether at  the  camp;  and  the  presence  of  the  ex- 
President  at  luncheon  made  a  suitable  opportunity. 
That  he  succeeded  to  his  own  satisfaction  it  is  not 
possible  with  truth  to  say.  Whether  it  was  that 
poor  Vandy  was  pulling  alone,  or  whether  it  was  that 
nobody  noticed,  or  whether  indeed  Prince  Alfred  de- 
liberately set  himself  to  be  rebellious,  he  couldn't 
afterwards  well  decide;  but  the  tide  of  conversation 
that  he  tried  so  hard  to  improve  upon  in  the  inter- 

165 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ests  of  punctilio  did  before  long  seem  to  sweep  past 
him  altogether.  Not  once  did  Prince  Alfred  refer 
to  him,  turn  to  him  or  appeal  to  him;  not  once 
did  he  feel  himself  the  least  shelter,  or  even  the  least 
convenience,  to  that  young  man.  They  might  have 
been  just  lunching,  four  gentlemen  together,  four 
gentlemen  from  anywhere,  for  all  Vandy  could  do 
with  his  deference  to  stamp  his  prince  with  a  differ- 
ence. So  Vandy  gave  it  up  in  the  long  run  with 
due  discretion;  but  the  little  annoyance  that  he  felt 
must  be  mentioned  because  it  was  the  beginning  of 
heavy  misgivings  in  Vandy's  mind.  Listening  to 
the  keen  notes  of  Alfred's  talk  with  America's  most 
famous  specialist  and  most  influential  public  man, 
Vandy  was  alarmed  to  observe  that  the  Prince  was 
getting  something  seriously  like  out  of  hand.  It 
was  not  so  much  what  he  said  as  the  spirit  with 
which  he  said  it.  "He's  fearfully  bucked  up,"  noted 
the  Colonel,  "about  something."  And  noted  it  with 
gloom. 

"What  about  this  idea  of  his  of  settling  in  the 
West?"  asked  Mr.  Lanchester,  in  a  private  moment 
with  Dr.  Morrow  before  he  went  back. 

"Well,  what  about  it?"  Dr.  Morrow  was  alert 
for  obstacles. 

"I  like  it — if  he  can  bring  it  off." 

"He  will  have  a  much  better  chance  in  this  coun- 
try," the  doctor  said.  "It's  quite  what  I  myself  should 

166 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

have  recommended  as  an  after-cure  for  two  years, 
if  I  had  dreamed  it  possible.  But  he  thought  of  it 
himself,  and  he  keeps  the  idea  right  beside  him,  all 
the  time.  It's  worth  pounds  a  week  to  him." 

"They  will  agree  to  the  after-cure  in  England, 
I  imagine,  but  they'll  make  him  report  himself  first." 

"No.  I  won't  have  any  reporting.  He  can  send 
Vandeleur." 

"For  two  years,"  reflected  Lanchester.  "After 
that,  it's  your  idea " 

"That  he'll  be  strong  enough  to  take  his  own 
line?  Yes,  it  is.  It's  lucky  he's  an  orphan.  A  king 
father  or  a  queen  mother  might  give  more  than 
the  usual  trouble,  I  suppose.  A  brother  won't  have 
so  much  say." 

"A  brother  on  the  throne,"  remarked  Lanchester, 
"may  have  quite  an  uncomfortable  amount  of  say. 
Not  to  speak  of  Ministers,  a  Privy  Council,  a  House 
of  Lords  and  Commons,  a  question  of  allowances, 
and  an  aunt." 

"Oh,  the  aunt " 

"When  the  aunt  is  the  Princess  Georgina,  Duch- 
ess of  Altenburg,  Morrow,  it  isn't  a  case  of  'Oh,  the 
aunt.'  I  met  the  lady  once,  when  she  was  younger, 
and  even  then  she  impressed  me  as  a  weight-car- 
rier. Her  influence  with  the  reactionary  party  over 
there  is  considerable,  and  she  regards  the  royal  fam- 
ily not  merely  as  the  apple  of  the  British  eye  but  as 

167 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  core  of  the  British  race.  To  domesticate  a 
nephew  in  a  republic — anyhow  in  this  one — would 
seem  to  her  an  act  of  centrifugal  destruction.  I  un- 
derstand she's  an  affectionate  aunt  in  her  way,  but 
she'll  look  at  it  monarchically,  and  she'll  stop  at 
nothing.  You'll  be  up  against  the  aunt,  Morrow." 

"She  may  look  at  it  any  way  she  likes.  I  look  at 
it  humanly.  What  could  she  do,  anyhow?" 

"Use  moral  suasion,  I  suppose,  coupled  with  prac- 
tical measures.  I  don't  know  what  they've  got  on 
their  statute  book  for  the  restraint  of  princes,  but 
she  does.  And  whatever  it  is  she'll  put  it  in  opera- 
tion." 

"Practical  measures,"  retorted  Dr.  Morrow, 
"means  money.  Look  here,  Lanchester,  there's 
nothing  in  that  for  the  aunt."  His  eyes  grew 
brighter  than  ever.  "Why,  hang  it  all,  if  he  wants 
to  carve  out  a  career  in  Colorado  steers  for  his 
health,  and  there's  any  difficulty  at  home,  the  United 
States  of  America  will  endow  Alfred — by  public 
subscription.  Tell  that  to  the  aunt!" 

The  ex-President  shook  with  laughter.  "Quite 
so,"  he  said,  wiping  his  eyes,  "I  can't  imagine  a  more 
popular  object.  Any  newspaper  would  pay  for  the 
job.  They  wouldn't  let  it  run  to  an  unfriendly 
act,  would  they?  'The  Expropriation  of  a  British 
Prince.'  The  Duchess  would  certainly  see  it  like 
that.  All  the  same  it  would  be  a  very  good  alterna- 

168 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

tive  to  offer  her.  She  wouldn't  like  it.  But  neither, 
I'm  afraid,  would  Prince  Alfred." 

"No,"  Dr.  Morrow  said  regretfully.  "I'm  afraid 
it  could  merely  be  used  as  a  bluff.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  it  would  spoil  the  whole  scheme  for  him.  But  I 
want  to  see  the  thing  done,  Lanchester,  and  I'm 
going  to  stand  by.  Here's  a  natural  man  growing 
up  in  a  royal  prince  and  asking  for  a  job.  Leaving 
out  the  question  of  his  health,  what  is  there  for  him 
over  there?  Third  horse  in  a  tandem  harnessed  to 
a  motor  car,  that's  about  his  situation;  and  looking 
at  him  just  as  a  human  being  in  that  fix,  I  feel  in- 
fernally sorry  for  him.  Apart  from  that,  he's  my 
patient  and  I'm  curing  him,  and  that's  my  pull. 
And  apart  from  that  again,  I'm  personally  in  debt 
to  him,  Lanchester." 

His  friend  sent  him  a  questioning  look  which  the 
doctor  seemed  at  pains  not  to  see.  Then  he  swung 
round. 

"For  making  me  so  extraordinarily  fond  of  him. 
You  know  my  shriveled  life,  Lanchester — how  it 
hangs  by  my  head.  Since  my  brother — I  haven't 
known  I  had  a  heart.  And  it's  great  to  find  it,  old 
man — it's  great." 

Henry  Lanchester,  who  largely  lived  by  his,  could 
only  nod.  Then  he  smiled  with  some  tenderness. 

"What  is  it?"  he  demanded  of  the  doctor. 
"What's  his  black  sorcery?" 

169 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"How  do  I  know,"  replied  Dr.  Morrow,  "what 
it  is?  There's  no  formula  for  it.  I  know  that 
I'm  his  doctor  and  I  try  to  keep  it  at  that,  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact  I'm  a  pretty  good  imita- 
tion of  his  slave.  Then  you're  with  us  for  Colo- 
rado?" 

"Absolutely.  I  should  like  it  very  much.  I  have 
been  in  American  politics  and  am  now  out  of  them, 
but  there's  no  time  that  I  can  think  of  when  I  wouldn't 
have  liked  it  very  much." 

"I  might  have  known  that,"  laughed  Morrow. 
"We're  all  acquainted  with  your  one  weak  spot, 
Lanchester.  Before  you  go  out  with  the  boys  again, 
you  old  Pilgrim  grandfather,  come  over  to  me,  and 
I'll  trepan  it." 

"A  fellow  who's  got  to  take  to  the  woods  from 
June  till  October  to  keep  alive  isn't  likely  to  see 
much  more  of  the  boys,"  the  ex-President  told  him, 
holding  out  his  hand. 

"You  disgraceful  old  quitter!  You  want  to  come 
to  the  woods,  that's  what's  the  matter  with  you! 
I'll  get  you  back  into  public  life  a  long  time  be- 
fore you're  ready,  you  can  figure  on  that,"  Morrow 
assured  him.  "In  the  meantime  I  wish  you  would 
give  the  Prince  the  freedom  of  the  bungalow  over 
there.  He  came  back  on  Saturday  no  end  of  a 
fellow." 

"I  think  he's  got  it.    He's  been  in  the  kitchen  any- 

170 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

how.  And  if  he  wants  to  go  there  again,  I  don't 
know  of  any  way  of  keeping  him  out." 

"That's  just  it,"  the  specialist  agreed.  The  ex- 
President  took  up  his  paddle,  and  as  they  waved  good- 
by,  upon  each  of  their  lineal  American  faces  sat  a 
conscious  and  a  guilty  smile. 

That  was  in  the  beginning  of  September.  Before 
a  week  was  over  the  freedom  of  the  bungalow  on 
Old  Loon  Lake  had  become  no  idle  phrase  to  Prince 
Alfred,  nor  to  Abe,  who  still  did  the  portaging  and 
the  waiting,  nor  to  Vandy,  who  came  once  to  satisfy 
himself  that  all  was  as  it  should  be  and  afterwards 
stayed  at  home  because  it  wasn't  suggested  by  his 
prince  that  he  should  go  again.  To  the  freedom 
of  the  bungalow  was  added  a  wider  freedom  of  the 
wilderness.  Lanchester  made  Alfred  the  companion 
of  his  own  expeditions;  they  shot  and  fished  and 
climbed  together,  farther  and  farther  as  the  Prince's 
strength  responded.  Long  talks  they  had,  talks  in 
which  each  did  his  best  to  disillusion  the  other's  too 
ardent  gaze  across  the  ocean,  and  each  felt  his  gen- 
erous admiration  little  troubled  by  all  that  might 
have  to  be  admitted.  They  talked  mostly,  of  course, 
about  the  human  side  of  things,  sometimes  about  the 
ideal  side,  or  the  historical,  leaving  the  politics  of 
the  day  alone  except  in  so  far  as  they  illustrated 
these.  A  wonderful  sincerity  grew  up  between  the 
older  and  the  younger  man  there  out  of  the  world, 

171 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

in  which  soon  there  was  nothing  hid  that  was  Al- 
fred and  very  little  that  was  Lanchester.  Alfred 
turned  to  him,  in  a  manner  which  he  found  in- 
finitely touching,  for  approval  of  all  he  planned. 
His  determination  not  to  marry — now  that  must  be 
sound.  Mr.  Lanchester  ought  to  hear  old  Morrow 
on  eugenics. 

"Has  Morrow  advised  you  not  to  marry?"  asked 
Lanchester. 

"Not  lately.  He  did  at  first — when  I  got  it  out 
of  him.  I'm  positive  he's  right." 

"That  must  have  been  before  he  thought  he  could 
cure  you." 

"How  does  a  fellow  know  he'll  stay  cured?  Be- 
sides— over  here — I've  all  sorts  of  reasons.  I  say, 
Mr.  Lanchester,  when  I've  got  my  show  started  out 
there,  will  you  and  Miss  Hilary  come  and  stay  with 
me  for  a  bit,  if  I  can  make  you  comfortable?" 

Mr.  Lanchester  agreed  that  he  would;  and  later, 
beside  the  fire  that  blazed  up  the  big  chimney  in  the 
living-room,  Hilary  agreed  that  she  would,  too. 
Hilary  never  came  with  them  on  their  expeditions; 
but  she  was  always  a  part  of  the  warm  intimacy  of 
the  return,  always  daughterly,  always  gay  and 
friendly,  always,  he  whispered  to  himself  as  he  pad- 
dled back  over  the  stars  in  the  water,  a  darling — a 
darling.  His  love  grew  in  him  happily  and  inno- 
cently; it  was  enough  if  she  were  there,  to  be  shared 

172 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

with  her  father,  who  also  was  so  "jolly"  to  him. 
Poor  Alfred's  heart  embraced  them  both.  They 
stood,  together,  for  all  that  he  wanted;  and  all  that 
he  thought  he  wanted  was  his  independence,  his  Col- 
orado ranch,  and  the  lifelong  friendship  of  these 
two.  Perhaps  Hilary  wouldn't  marry  either.  Girls 
often  didn't — millions  in  England.  And  he  slept 
untroubled,  and  woke  in  high  spirits,  and  chaffed 
Vandy,  who  grew  more  and  more  preoccupied,  about 
his  waistcoat  measurements. 

Vandy  grew  preoccupied  to  the  point  of  worry. 
He  could  not  make  up  his  mind  for  some  time  what 
he  ought  to  do.  This  intimacy  with  the  Lanchesters 
seemed  to  him  to  be  disproportionate ;  Dr.  Morrow's 
influence  had  always  seemed  to  him  to  be  dispro- 
portionate; indeed,  in  the  matter  of  proportion 
Vandy  felt  himself  at  sea  and  without  a  pilot.  He 
put  it,  when  he  finally  decided  to  express  his  fears 
to  the  Princess  Georgina,  a  little  differently. 

"I  cannot  help  seeing,"  he  wrote,  "that  Prince  Al- 
fred is  beginning  to  lose  his  bearings  over  here.  I 
cannot  help  feeling  that  it  would  be  well  if  I  could 
be  reinforced." 

He  wanted  reinforcement  for  every  reason,  did 
Vandy,  being  heartily  sick  of  mounting  guard  alone, 
but  he  was  hardly  prepared  for  the  strength  in  which 
it  was  promptly  conceded. 

"I  will  come,"  wrote  the  Princess  Georgina,  "my- 

173 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

self.  Sailing  on  the  fifteenth,  in  the  Icelandic. 
Bringing  Althea  Dawe.  Traveling  incognito,  of 
course.  In  arranging  for  us  you  may  say  that  the 
King  is  extremely  gratified  at  the  remarkable  im- 
provement Prince  Alfred  has  made,  and  that  I  come 
at  his  wish  to  express  His  Majesty's  thanks,  as  well 
as  my  own,  personally,  to  that  excellent  Dr.  Mor- 
row. It  will  interest  me  extremely  to  see  the  glori- 
ous Adirondacks.  I  must  refrain  from  going  further 
into  matters  for  the  present,  but  may  add  that  all 
goes  well  here,  and  that  I  shall  hope  to  induce  the 
Prince  to  return  with  me  at  an  early  date." 

Vandy,  who  was  certainly  out  of  condition,  found 
himself  perspiring. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

DADDY,"  said  Hilary  to  her  father,  giving 
him  his  cup  of  coffee,  "the  Kaiser  absolutely 
won't  hear  of  it." 

"Won't  hear  of — oh,  the  niece's  affair.  But  they 
must  have  known  it  would  be  hopeless.  No  Kaiser 
would  hear  of  it.  The  fellow  is  the  queerest  mix- 
ture— a  Catholic  Socialist.  What  would  he  do  with 
a  half  share  of  the  throne  of  your  friend's  Grand 
Duchy?  The  Pope  wouldn't  like  it  either." 

"Poor  Sophy !  It  must  be  horrid  to  have  a  throne 
and  to  want  to  share  it  and  not  to  be  able  to.  It 
seems  they  took  their  courage  in  their  hands  at  last 
and  approached  him — Karl  Salvator  did — with  all 
the  proper  formalities.  And  his  rage  was  un- 
bounded. And  he  has  sent  the  wretched  Archduke 
off  to  take  military  command  of  some  frontier  post 
or  other,  miles  from  Berlin  and  his  beloved  labora- 
tories. And  as  for  poor  dear  Sophy  herself,  she's 
arrested." 

"Oh?" 

"I  wish  you  would  show  some  little  feeling,  father. 

175 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Sophy  is  aux  arrets;  those  are  her  very  words.  It's 
a  punk  thing  they  can  do  over  there " 

"  'Punk1  is  not " 

"An  expression  that  you  care  to  hear  me  use.  I 
know,  darling.  But  I  love  it.  And  this  trick  the 
Emperor  Heinrich  has  played  on  Sophy  is  as  punk 
as  punk.  There  is  no  other  word.  She  has  the  three 
ugly  rooms  in  the  Neues  Palais  that  she  most 
hates  of  the  whole  two  hundred,  and  she  mayn't 
walk  out  of  sight.  And  not  a  step  without  that  old 
Baroness  Fertigsleben  beside  her  and  some  cham- 
berlain or  other  behind  her.  Don't  you  agree  it's 
punk?" 

"It's  restricted,"  said  the  ex-President,  sugaring 
his  melon.  "Certainly.  Can't  her  mother  do  any- 
thing?" 

"Her  mother!  The  Princess  Anne  sent  her  to 
Potsdam!  Her  mother's  just  the  person  who  deliv- 
ers Uncle  Heinrich's  orders — she's  terrified  of  her 
brother.  Well,  when  I  tell  you  that  he  took  Sophy 
away  from  her  mother  when  she  was  three  days  old ! 
He  arrested  her  because  poor  Sophy,  being  too  mis- 
erable about  Karl  Salvator,  was  guilty  of  a  piece  of 
lese  majeste.  I  must  say  she  was.  The  Kaiser  had 
a  review  of  his  old  Markovians  to  console  her.  You 
know  she  is  honorary  colonel  of  the  regiment,  and 
has  a  perfectly  gorgeous  sort  of  uniform,  all  white 
and  silver,  with  a  lovely  big  hat  and  ostrich  plumes 

176 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

in  it — she  described  it  all  to  me  once  in  one  of  her 
letters.  And  she  canters  up  to  her  place  at  the  head 
of  the  regiment  and  leads  it  past  the  Emperor  and 
his  staff,  saluting  with  her  whip.  A  perfectly  ideal 
thing  to  do,  of  course.  One  of  the  few  that  would 
induce  me  to  consider  being  born  a  German  royalty." 

""Profitless,  Hil.  And  a  great  deal  too  late  in  the 
day." 

"Yes,  I  know.  And  of  course  it  was  infinitely 
nicer,"  remembered  with  remorse  the  youngest  mis- 
tress the  White  House  ever  had.  "But  I  wish  you 
could  have  made  me  a  colonel,  daddy.  I  should  have 
loved  to  lead  your  Virginians  past  you  and  salute 
you  with  my  whip.  It  was  awfully  nice,  though,  just 
as  it  was,"  she  reflected.  "I  adored  it.  Father — 
father  mine — shall  we  ever  do  it  again?" 

"If  you  would  give  your  parent  some  of  that 
omelet  which  is  slowly  perishing  before  you,  and  go 
on  with  your  tale  of  the  only  young  woman  I  know 
of  who  has  been  properly  brought  up —  Besides,  I 
thought  you  had  renounced  the  pomps  entirely,  Hil, 
and  were  all  for  the  simple  life." 

"Ah,  well.  Yes,  precisely.  Now  you  shall  hear!" 
threatened  Hilary.  "It  was  a  most  Kaiserlich  silly 
thing  to  think  of  to  console  anybody,  but  poor  Sophy 
went  through  with  it.  /  would  have  had  a  headache 
and  sent  my  second  in  command.  But  anyhow.  And 
she  wore,  of  course,  her  Black  Eagle  that  he  gave 

177 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

her,  with  the  orange  ribbon  and  the  rosette  on  her 
hip — lovely  it  must  have  looked.  And  afterwards 
when  they  were  having  coffee,  she  says,  Sophy  still 
naturally  very  miserable,  the  Emperor,  after  scolding 
her  for  some  time,  very  severely  'with  fire-blazing 
eyes,'  she  says,  told  her  she  hadn't  put  it  on  properly. 
Well,  when  he  said  that,  Sophy,  feeling  as  she  did 
so  awfully  miserable — she  threw  it  on  the  floor.  The 
Black  Eagle!  His  Black  Eagle!  Wasn't  it  awful? 
And  rushed  crying  out  of  the  room  before  him,  and 
without  leave  or  anything.  Luckily  only  Marshal 
von  Konigsdorf  was  present,  and  he's  a  dear  old 
man,  very  fond  of  Sophy.  But  he  couldn't  get  her 
not  arrested,  and  Der  Einzige  hasn't  spoken  to  her 
since." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Lanchester  equably,  "it  was  no 
way  to  treat  a  Black  Eagle.  Did  she  rush  to  her 
mother?" 

"What  an  idea  you  have  of  mothers !  Believe  me, 
daddy,  they  do  not  always  do  so.  Sophy's  mother 
was  at  their  own  castle  in  Sternberg-Hof stein  and 
wrote  to  her  that  she  was  lucky  that  the  Emperor 
didn't  'reissen  Sie  ihr  den  Kopf  ab.'  So  much  for 
the  reigning-Princess-of-a-Grand-Duchy  kind  of 
mother!" 

"I  feel  that  she  is  a  woman  to  be  respected  more 
than  some  fathers.  But  I  sympathize  deeply  with 
Sophy  and  her  Socialist.  I  hope  she  may  win  him 

178 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

yet.  And  if  I  may  now  demand  your  attention  to 
something  else " 

"Oh,  father !  You've  heard  from  Governor  Dan- 
iels. Are  they  talking  seriously — our  people?" 

"I  have  heard  from  Jim,  as  a  matter  of  fact.  And 
though  he  may  be  talking  seriously  now,  he  will  soon 
cease  to  do  so.  The  news  is,  Hil,  that  Maurice 
Blattenheimer  had  offered  us  three  millions  for  the 
Silver  Squaw.  And  we  had  enough  before.  It's 
very  perturbing." 

Hilary  opened  her  eyes  a  little  wider,  and  laid  her 
fork,  with  particular  care,  upon  her  plate. 

"But  you  did  expect  him,  didn't  you,  dad,  to  pay 
something  for  it?" 

"Something,  yes.  Say  my  traveling  expenses,  and 
a  little  over.  But  nothing  like  this.  The  man  is 
taking  advantage  of  us,  Hil.  I  suspect  him — he's 
a  boss;  I  suspect  all  bosses.  What  does  he  want  to 
give  me  three  million  dollars  for?" 

"Why,  fo.-  the  mine,  daddy." 

"Yes — I  suppose  he'll  put  it  that  way,1*  groaned 
her  father.  "And  those  agent  fellows  will  excuse 
themselves  with  the  fact  that  the  Alaska  Ore  Prop- 
erties were  willing  to  pay  two  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand.  And  I've  got  to  be  satisfied  with 
the  explanation  and  pocket  the  three  millions, 
or  work  it  myself,  which  might  pay — Heaven 
have  mercy  upon  us — even  better.  But  this  seals 

179 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

every  vow  I  ever  made  to  keep  out  of  politics, 
daughter." 

"But,  father " 

"Yes,  it  does.  It  puts  us,  with  every  advertise- 
ment, in  the  millionaire  class,  and  the  people  hate 
the  millionaire  class,  and  I  hate  it  myself.  Lucky 
Lanchester!  The  man  with  three  million  dollars — 
three  million  Silver  Squaws  about  his  neck.  No, 
Hilary — the  primaries  would  have  no  use  for  all 
those  squaws — they're  not  popular  in  politics,  any- 
way  " 

But  Hilary  let  the  jest  pass.  She  sat  with  her 
hands  clasped  tight  in  front  of  her,  lost  in  thought, 
out  of  which  the  next  instant  resolution  soared. 

"Father,  darling!  This  unlucky  mine.  Don't  sell 
it  at  all.  Give  it  away.  And  do — do  run  again  for 
president.  The  people  are  dying  to  elect  you — you 
know  they  are.  And  I'm  dying — I'm  dying  to  see 
you  elected.  If  they  won't  have  you  with  a  silver 
mine  which  you  found  by  yourself  and  perfectly  hon- 
estly, give  it  away " 

"No,"  said  Henry  Lanchester,  getting  up  from 
the  table,  "I'm  afraid  they  wouldn't  care  about  that 
kind  of  man  either.  I  may  possibly  bestow  it  on  you, 
if  you'll  promise  to  take  it  away.  But  we'll  digest 
this  later,  Hil.  For  the  time  being  the  point  is  that 
Simcox  will  be  here  at  three  this  afternoon  about  it, 
and  I've  got  to  see  him,  and  Prince  Alfred  is  also 

180 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

coming  at  three,  and  he  and  Enoch  and  I  were  to 
have  tarred  the  second  canoe.  You  will  take  care 
of  him,  please.  I'll  join  you  at  tea-time — Simcox 
will  be  gone  in  an  hour." 

Hilary  also  left  her  place,  and  walked  to  the 
window. 

"Bertha  and  I,"  she  announced,  "were  going  after 
cat-tails  this  afternoon.  They're  lovely  and  brown 
now — in  another  day  or  two  they'll  be  all  burst  and 
spoiled.  Couldn't  Enoch  be  showing  Prince  Alfred 
how  to  tar  a  canoe?" 

"Quite  impossible.  You  must  take  him  with  you 
instead  of  Bertha.  He  is  really  not  difficult  by  him- 
self— rather  delightful.  Let  him  take  his  own  line 
and  you'll  find  him  a  dear  fellow,  and  very  enter- 
taining." 

"I'll  do  my  best,"  said  Hilary,  with  a  lip  that 
quivered  between  a  smile  and  something  quite  dif- 
ferent. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

WITH  care  and  precision  and  a  claspknife 
Prince  Alfred  was  cutting  cat-tails  and 
handing  them  to  Hilary,  who  laid  them  in 
the  flat  bottom  of  the  boat,  heads  one  way,  stems 
the  other.  He  was  at  great  pains  to  pick  out  the 
longest  and  finest.  She  took  them  from  his  hand 
with  a  touch  of  sedateness  that  became  her  as  sweetly 
as  possible. 

"I  suppose,"  he  said  presently,  "that  you  want 
these  merely  for  putting  about,  don't  you?  Just  to 
look  pretty?" 

"Isn't  that  reason  enough  to  want  them?"  she 
asked. 

"Of  course  it  is.  But  I  should  like  it  so  much 
better  if  we  were  getting  them  to  do  something  use- 
ful with." 

She  thought  a  minute.  "Like  strewing  the  stone 
floor  of  the  banqueting  hall  of  the  castle,"  she 
laughed. 

Very  quickly  he  followed  her  into  the  castle. 
"Yes,  something  like  that.  Didn't  they  live  glori- 

182 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ously  in  those  days?  But  I  don't  suppose  we  should 
have  been  allowed  to  do  it,  all  the  same.  It  would 
have  been  a  lout's  job.  Steady! — I'm  sorry."  A 
bulrush  had  gone  into  the  water. 

"Silly  of  me  not  to  take  proper  hold  of  it.  But 
I'm  not  so  sure  about  'gloriously.'  Think  of  the 
bones  mixed  up  with  the  rushes,  and  the  hounds 
growling,  and — and  the  potato  skins." 

"We  shouldn't  have  had  potatoes,"  he  told  her. 
"The  chief  senechal  would  never  have  heard  of  them. 
I  say — isn't  that  enough?  Right-o."  He  scrambled 
into  his  place  again  and  from  there  he  contemplated 
her  for  a  moment,  a  little  flushed  under  her  wide  hat, 
in  satisfaction  and  in  silence. 

"Do  you  happen  ever  to  have  seen  a  Holbein  of 
the  Lady  Vaux?"  he  asked  her. 

"No — why?  I  mean,  where  is  it?" 
.  "The  original's  at  Windsor,  I  think.  You're  not 
a  bit  like  her — she's  rather  a  beefy  old  thing — but 
I'd  like  awfully  to  see  you  in  the  headdress  she  wears. 
It  has  little  flat  wings  along  the  face,  edged  with 
pearls,  and  a  sort  of  jib-sheet  of  velvet  sticking  out 
at  one  side  with  a  veil  on  it.  I've  always  remem- 
bered it  awfully  well,  I  don't  know  why." 

"It's  odd  how  one  does  remember  things." 

"I  think  it's  simply  dear  of  you  to  let  me  come 
like  this  instead  of  Bertha.  It's  rather  rough  on 
Bertha,  of  course." 

183 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"My  father  was  so  distressed.  A  wretched  Mr. 
Simcox  telegraphed  this  morning " 

"Yes,  I  know.  I  say — do  you  mind  too  awfully  ? 
About  the  wretched  Mr.  Simcox?"  He  looked  a 
trifle  dashed. 

Hilary  let  the  water  play  through  her  fingers. 
"No — not  too  awfully,"  she  admitted. 

"Because  I'm  uncommonly  grateful  —  really. 
There  are  some  things  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about." 

Hilary  looked  at  him  bravely.  "Do,"  she  said. 
"I'm  afraid  father's  advice  would  be  best,  but " 

"He's  splendid,  isn't  he?  But  this  is  more  a  mat- 
ter of  feeling.  Something  I  want  you  to  help  me  to 
decide." 

Hilary,  clasping  her  hands  about  her  knees  and 
considering  the  tips  of  her  shoes,  gave  him  a  very 
silent  attention. 

"You  know  I  am  expecting  my  aunt." 

"Oh,  yes."  She  looked  up  quickly.  "On  Satur- 
day, isn't  it?  Are  you  quite  sure  that  Dr.  Morrow 
has  everything?  He  knows,  doesn't  he,  that  there 
are  simply  stacks  of  linen  and  things  over  here?" 

"He  said  something  about  two  pillow-cases.  But 
that  will  all  be  looked  after " 

("There  has  always,  always  been  a  chamberlain 
for  such  purposes,"  she  thought  to  herself.  "Of 
course.") 

"That  isn't  my  difficulty.     My  difficulty  is  this. 

184 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Am  I  bound  to  tell  my  aunt  about  the  Colorado 
scheme?" 

She  reflected.     "Why  should  you  be?" 

"It's  not  easy  to  explain,  but  in  England  I  should 
feel  I  was;  and  over  here  I  don't,  somehow." 

"Does  Colonel  Vandy  know  yet?" 

"Rather  not!  I'm  not  bound  to  tell  Vandy.  That 
would  upset  my  apple  cart,  and  no  mistake.  It  would 
be  his  duty,  you  see,  to  upset  it.  Nobody  knows — 
except  Dr.  Morrow  and  we  three." 

"Wouldn't  it  be  the  Princess's  duty  to  upset  it, 
too?" 

"I'm  afraid  she  would  think  so." 

"And  could  she?" 

"She  could  have  a  jolly  good  try." 

They  exchanged  glances  full  of  anxiety  and  under- 
standing. 

"Can't  you  leave  it  all  to  Dr.  Morrow?" 

"Dr.  Morrow  told  me  yesterday  that  my  lungs 
were  as  sound  as  his.  He  will  help,  of  course,  but 
if  I  am  as  well  as  that — and  I  told  her  I  wanted  to 
live  in  Colorado " 

"I  see.  She  wouldn't  hear  of  it.  She  would  say 
it  would  break  her  heart." 

"No,"  said  Prince  Alfred  gloomily.  "She 
wouldn't  say  that.  But  she  would  use  other  argu- 
ments just  as  useful." 

"Then  I  wouldn't!     I  wouldn't  tell  her,"   cried 

185 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

Hilary.  "Your  American  feeling  is  right  for  when 
you  are  in  America.  Over  here  we  don't  tell  every- 
thing to  aunts." 

"You  keep  'em  in  the  dark?" 

"Yes — when  it  matters  as  much  as  this  matters, 
and  they  might,  with  the  best  intentions,  do  harm," 
Hilary  pronounced. 

He  looked  at  her  with  all  his  heart.  "I  love  to 
hear  you  say  it  matters,"  he  said.  "To  me,  of 
course,  it's  everything  on  earth.  And  a  few  things," 
he  added  simply,  with  his  eyes  still  on  her  face,  "and 
a  few  things  in  heaven." 

It  was  only  as  if  he  had  kissed  her  hand,  but  some- 
thing in  it  frightened  them  both,  and  as  for  an  in- 
stant they  looked  at  one  another,  tears  gathered  in 
her  eyes  and  in  his. 

"Dear  Alfred,  I  think — you  mustn't  say  those 
things,"  she  told  him,  very  sadly. 

"You're  quite  right — I  won't.  But,  Hil  dear,  I 
hadn't  finished  about  my  Aunt  Georgina." 

"I'll  send  the  pillow-cases." 

"Bother  the  pillow-cases.  You'll  come  and  see 
her,  won't  you?" 

"Why,  of  course.  Father  and  I — if  you  think 
she " 

"I  think  she  would  expect  it.  ,  She  never  travels 
without  her  visitors'  book.  And  she  is  your  god- 
mother, when  all's  said  and  done." 

186 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  hadn't  forgotten  it,"  Hilary  told  him  demurely. 
"Oughtn't  we  to  be  getting  back?  I'm  sure  it's 
five." 

"I  remember  it  all  the  time.  And  if  I  do  decide 
to  tell  her  about  the  ranch  scheme — I  don't  think  I 
will,  but  if  I  do — you'll  back  me  up  about  it,  won't 
you?" 

Hilary  straightened  her  hat  and  took  up  the  tiller 
ropes.  "I  don't  feel,"  she  said  with  some  discern- 
ment, as  he  slowly  dipped  the  oars,  "I  don't  feel  as 
if  I  should  be  exactly  the  right  person.  Father 
might.  But  I  am  sure  the  strongest  ally  on  your  side 
will  be  Dr.  Morrow." 

They  rowed  back  through  the  flaming  woods,  over 
the  golden  water,  with  hardly  another  word.  How 
indeed  could  they  talk,  with  two  worlds  imposing 
silence  on  them  ?  But  when  he  had  beached  the  boat 
and  shipped  his  oars,  and  turned  to  help  her  out: 

"After  all,  I'm  twenty-three,"  he  said. 

It  did  not  seem  a  very  apt  thing  to  say,  and  per- 
haps Hilary  thought  so,  for  as  she  put  her  hand  in 
his,  she  made  no  reply. 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE  Princess  Georgina  traveled  as  the  Coun- 
tess of  Yorick;  the  Lady  Althea  Dawe  was 
registered  as  Miss  Revelstoke.  Their  in- 
cognito was  respected  even  in  the  harbor  of  New 
York,  respected  beyond  anything  that  either  of  the 
ladies  probably  dared  to  hope.  People  looked  at 
them,  bowed  slightly,  and  let  them  pass;  even  the 
reporters  let  them  pass.  It  was  the  first  thing  the 
Princess  said  to  Dr.  Morrow  on  the  Saturday  after- 
noon, when  Colonel  Vandy  finally  got  them  seated 
in  the  buckboard  at  Moose  Lick,  outside  the  station. 
"We  have  been  quite  unmolested,"  she  said,  "quite 
unmolested."  She  also  gave  out  immediately  that 
she  meant,  if  possible,  to  return  by  the  liner  sailing 
the  following  week.  It  would  be  far  too  short  a 
visit,  but  for  her  part  she  was  never  so  happy  as  at 
sea.  Bundled  up  in  a  deck  chair,  the  voyage  was  one 
long  delight.  For  her  friend,  Lady  Althea,  it  was 
perhaps  more  of  a  rest  cure ;  a  statement  which  Lady 
Althea  applauded  with  rather  a  plaintive  smile. 
There  was  something  firm  and  fine  and  intimidat- 

188 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ing  about  the  Princess  which  reached  Dr.  Morrow's 
consciousness  at  once.  He  felt  it,  and  thought  well 
to  reply  to  it.  As  he  and  Vandy  tucked  the  rugs 
about  the  ladies : 

"Your  nephew  was  very  anxious  to  come  and  meet 
you  himself,  madam,"  he  said.  "I  was  sorry  not  to 
be  able  to  allow  it." 

"Ah,"  Princess  Georgina  replied.  "Yes.  We 
did  hope,  did  we  not,  Althea,  to  see  his  dear  face 
on  the  platform.  And  as  he  is  now  so  well,  Dr. 
Morrow,  may  I  ask  why  you  thought  necessary  to 
forbid  it?" 

"I'm  afraid  we  must  use  'well'  as  a  relative  term," 
Dr.  Morrow,  who  sat  in  front  beside  the  driver, 
leaned  back  to  say.  "Crowds  are  very  bad  for  him." 

"But  there  were  only,  beside  ourselves,  one  gentle- 
man, two  men  with  guns,  and  a  dog,"  objected  the 
Princess ;  and  indeed  Moose  Lick  had  definitely  said 
good-by  to  summer  visitors. 

"Precisely.  But  if  it  had  leaked  out  that  Prince 
Alfred  was  to  be  here,  it  is  just  possible  that  there 
would  have  been  quite  a  few  more." 

"Oh,  yes — in  that  case " 

"Moose  Lick  has  been  out  of  bounds  for  the 
Prince  all  summer,  and  we  weren't  taking  any  risks. 
But  I  think  I  may  promise  that  he  shall  be  allowed 
to  see  you  off,  madam.  Especially,"  the  doctor 
added  gallantly,  "as  nobody  could  suppose  that  you 

189 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

would  be  leaving  us  so  soon.  I  hope  the  hamper 
under  the  seat  is  not  inconveniencing  you.  Abe, 
when  was  that  mare  shod  last?" 

Vandy,  squeezed  in  beside  the  doctor,  looked 
straight  in  front  of  him.  Dr.  Morrow's  attention 
was  fixed  upon  the  mare's  off  hind  leg;  and  the 
glance  which  the  two  ladies  exchanged  went  unob- 
served. The  silence  that  fell  was  not  broken  until 
Colonel  Vandeleur  began  pointing  out  and  naming 
the  misty  peaks  that  showed  as  the  road  wound  into 
the  woods.  Riley  followed  with  the  two  maids  and 
the  luggage;  and  so,  before  the  October  sun  had 
drawn  the  last  of  his  red  fire  out  of  the  maples,  the 
arrival  was  accomplished. 

It  was  a  most  affectionate  arrival.  Dignified, 
graceful  and  affectionate.  Dr.  Morrow  stood  by, 
with  a  careful  eye  upon  his  charge,  as  it  took  place. 
The  Princess  advanced  with  outstretched  arms;  Dr. 
Morrow  watched  Prince  Alfred  surrender  first  one 
cheek  and  then  the  other  to  be  kissed,  and  heard 
his  studied  replies  to  the  ejaculations  that  fell  like 
a  warm  shower-bath  about  him.  The  Princess,  with 
her  head  up,  wept  into  a  handkerchief  that  seemed 
the  emblem  of  authority;  Lady  Althea  cried  also, 
unashamed. 

"Out  of  the  jaws  of  death,"  exclaimed  Princess 
Georgina.  "If  ever  there  was  a  Divine  interposi- 
tion, darling  Alfie " 

190 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Dr.  Morrow  went  into  his  own  room,  and  there, 
being  of  an  impulsive  disposition,  emptied  his  rifle 
several  times  out  of  the  window.  Later,  at  supper, 
Princess  Georgina  remarked  that  she  thought  she 
had  heard  shooting. 

"It  was  a  feu  de  joie,  madam,  in  honor  of  your 
arrival,"  the  doctor  told  her. 

"And  a  very  pretty  thought,"  said  she. 

It  was  soon  plain  that  the  Princess  had  no  desire 
for  anything  like  an  official  interview  with  Dr.  Mor- 
row. She  gave  him  the  King's  messages  with  every 
circumstance  that  could  enhance  their  significance, 
except  privacy.  She  expressed  her  own  gratitude 
with  effusion,  wondered  and  exclaimed,  and  begged 
to  know  Dr.  Morrow's  marvelous  secret,  as  if  it 
could  be  communicated  over  a  cup  of  tea,  hinted  the 
immense  reputation  the  doctor  had  made  for  him- 
self in  England,  "where  the  interest  is  naturally 
enormous,"  but  adroitly  avoided  drawing  upon  her- 
self any  professional  fire  whatever.  Observing 
that,  the  doctor  reserved  his  ammunition,  and 
this  was  the  harder  for  him  to  do  as  he  had 
also  to  note  that  Alfred,  that  first  morning,  ate 
less  than  half  his  usual  breakfast,  spoke  care- 
fully, and  seemed  "all  out  of  proportion,"  trou- 
bled about  the  punctilio  which  should  attend  his 
aunt. 

The  doctor  had  an  eye  upon  the  party;  the  Lady 

191 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Althea  had  an  eye,  which  was  also  intelligent,  upon 
the  doctor. 

"That  man,"  she  said  to  her  mistress,  "will  never 
permit  it." 

The  maids  were  gone,  leaving  the  ladies  to  rest 
in  their  double-bedded  chamber. 

"Permit  what?" 

"The  dear  Prince  to  return  with  us." 

"He  may  not  be  anxious  for  it,  as  every  day  the 
arrangement  continues  is  of  untold  value  to  him. 
But  he  must  permit  it  if  Alfie  wishes." 

"Do  you  think,  darling,  that  Prince  Alfred  will 
wish  it?" 

"I  have  not  spoken  seriously  to  him  yet,  but  I  think 
he  will.  I  am  very  sleepy,  Althea.  This  air  is 
marvelous — I  think  you  may  leave  Alfred  to  me. 
Good  night,  Althea." 

"Good  night,  darling,"  said  the  Lady  Althea  obe- 
diently, but  from  the  pillow  she  kept  a  pathetic  eye 
upon  Alfred's  log  cabin  in  the  starlight,  where  a 
lamp  was  burning,  and  did  not  sleep,  faithful  creature 
that  she  was,  until  it  was  put  out. 

That  was  on  Sunday  night.  The  next  morning 
Colonel  Vandeleur  said  to  the  Princess  Georgina, 

"Visitors  in  a  place  like  this  are  hardly  to  be  ex- 
pected, Highness,  but  Mr.  Ex-President  Lanchester 
and  his  daughter,  of  whom  I  know  you  have  heard 
a  great  deal " 

192 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"And  nothing  but  what  is  delightful,"  interposed 
the  Princess. 

And  who  are  practically  our  only  neighbors,  pro- 
pose to  pay  you  their  respects  to-day.  It  was  ar- 
ranged that  we  should  let  them  know,  if  you  had 
quite  recovered  from  the  fatigue  of  the  journey, 
whether  you  could  receive  them. 

"Abe  or  Riley  can  go  over,"  observed  Dr.  Mor- 
row. 

"Nothing,"  declared  Princess  Georgina,  "could  give 
me  greater  pleasure.  Mr.  Lanchester  has  been  quite 
extraordinarily  kind — I  should  be  glad  of  an  op- 
portunity to  thank  him.  And  it  will  be  a  special 
pleasure  to  meet  the  young  lady,  who,  as  I  daresay 
you  all  know,  is  my  goddaughter ' 

"I  didn't!"  exclaimed  Dr.  Morrow.  "Now  that's 
what  I  call  remarkable." 

"It's  not  what  I  call  remarkable,"  said  the  Princess 
equably.  "I  have  altogether  stood  sponsor  to  forty- 
five — forty-five,  or  is  it  forty-seven  infants,  Althea  ?" 

"Forty-seven,  Princess.  The  last  was  Lady  New 
Forest's.  You  remember  Lord  New  Forest  gave 
five  thousand  toward  the  expense  of  dividing  our 
dear  Bishop's  diocese,  and  you  said  you  couldn't  re- 
fuse." 

"There  is  no  reason,  Althea,  to  go  into  whys  and 
wherefores.  I  only  hesitated  really  because  Lord 
New  Forest — being  born  Isaacson — had  never,  so 

193 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPP  INE 


far  as  I  could  ascertain,  been  baptized  himself.  It 
did  seem  to  increase  one's  responsibility.  But 
you  will  all  understand  my  added  interest  in  Miss 
Lanchester.  I  hear,  by  the  way,  that  she  has  grown 
up  very  beautiful." 

The  Princess  looked  round  inquiringly  as  she 
spoke,  and  her  gaze  rested  last  upon  Alfred,  who  re- 
sponded "Very,"  in  a  tone  of  indifference  far  too  pro- 
found. 

"Ah,  well,  we  shall  see.  You  may  say,  Colonel 
Vandeleur,  that  twelve  o'clock  will  suit  me  perfectly. 
That  will  enable  me  to  get  my  letters  done,  and 
leave  all  the  time  that  will  be  necessary  for  the 
visit  before  luncheon." 

"Abe  is  chopping  wood  at  my  place,"  said  Alfred 
to  Colonel  Vandy,  as  they  got  up  from  the  table. 
"I'll  send  him  to  you." 

Something  in  the  way  he  said  it  struck  the  gentle 
ear  of  the  Lady  Althea. 

"He  is  going  to  write"  she  whispered  to  the 
Princess  as  they  stepped  out  upon  the  veranda.  "He 
is  going  to  write  to  her  himself." 

"Let  him,"  she  heard  in  return.  "My  dear  Althea, 
a  young  man  must  have  his  amusements." 


CHAPTER    XXI 

A1OUT  two  hours  later  the  Princess  was  hap- 
pily engaged  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Lan- 
chester,  while  Alfred  and  Hilary  devoted 
themselves  to  the  entertainment  of  the  Lady  Althea. 
There  was  no  doubt,  from  the  poise  of  Princess 
Georgina's  gray  head  and  the  deference  of  Mr.  Lan- 
chester's,  that  she  and  the  ex-President  were  dis- 
cussing matters  of  international  importance.  Lady 
Althea  was  sweetly  interested  in  local  ones.  Alfred 
looked  a  great  deal,  with  absorption,  at  his  boots; 
but  all  were  doing  well  when  the  Princess,  at  the 
end  of  one  of  her  own  sentences,  said  with  easy 
graciousness,  "Now  I  think  I  must  be  allowed  a  chat 
with  you,  Miss  Lanchester.  Shall  we  take  a  little 
walk,  or  shall  the  others  take  a  little  walk?  Ah, 
well,"  as  the  others  filed  out,  "perhaps  that  is  best. 
Now  will  you  come,  please,  and  sit  over  here  beside 
me  ?  That's  right.  This  is  a  day  to  remember  for  us 
both,  is  it  not,  dear  Miss  Lanchester?  When  we  think 
of  the  circumstances  in  which  we  last  met?  Such  a 
dear,  wee  thing  you  were.  So  pathetic,  so  helpless!" 

195 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"It  makes  one  feel  very  big  now,"  said  Hilary 
sweetly. 

"Yes,  no  doubt.  And  very  old,  now,  for  my  part. 
Very  old  indeed,  my  dear.  I  was  your  age  then. 
Ah,  me !"  A  pleasant  smile  rode  on  the  sigh.  "Now 
tell  me,  dear,  what  do  you  mean  to  do  with  your 
life?  Not  yet  engaged?" 

It  was  quite  a  fair  question  from  a  godmother, 
but  Hilary  had  to  remember  that  it  was. 

"No,"  she  said,  "I  am  devoted  to  my  father." 

"Ah,  yes — you  two.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  you 
are  to  one  another.  I  lost  my  own  father  very, 
very  early.  I  know  what  it  is  to  miss  a  father.  But 
I  should  have  married — I  should  have  married  all 
the  same.  Marriage  is  the  only  career  for  a  woman, 
don't  you  think?" 

"Perhaps  the  happiest.  We  marry  a  good  deal 
over  here,"  said  Hilary  with  sudden  spirit. 

"To  be  sure  you  do.  Yes,  I  have  always  under- 
stood so."  Just  the  suspicion  of  a  stare  came  into 
Princess  Georgina's  eyes,  and  vanished.  She  put  her 
hand  into  a  black  velvet  bag  and  drew  out  a  small 
packet. 

"I  have  taken  my  godmother's  privilege,  my  dear, 
and  brought  you  a  tiny  gift,"  she  said,  and  handed 
it  to  Hilary,  with  a  gesture  bonv  of  many  prize- 
givings.  It  was  an  exquisite  little  brooch,  an  open 
shell,  with  silver  cupids  in  it,  and  a  garland  of  roses. 

196 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Oh,  the  darling!"  cried  Hilary.  "Is  it  really 
for  me?  Thank  you  so  much."  Just  an  instant  she 
hesitated;  then  very  gracefully  and  prettily  she  kissed 
Princess  Georgina's  hand. 

"It  has  charm,  I  think,  the  little  thing.  I  am  so 
gratified  that  it  pleases  you.  Something  old,  I 
thought,  might,  in  this  country  where  all  is  so  new. 
Marquisate  it  is — do  you  know  the  work?" 

"Oh,  very  well.  By  Weise,  isn't  it?  I  have  some 
earlier  bits,  a  pendant  or  two  and  some  earrings, 
among  my  mother's  jewels,  but  nothing  so  sweet  as 
this." 

"Ah,  yes,  your  poor,  dear  mother.  Was  your 
mother  an  American,  dear?" 

"One  of  her  ancestors  was  a  signer  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,"  said  Hilary  proudly. 

"One  of  her  ancestors — but  it  was  only  the  other 
day!"  slipped  from  the  Princess.  "Ah,  yes,"  she 
retrieved,  "no  doubt  that  is  a  great  patent  over  here. 
And  your  father's  people — were  they  signatories, 
too?" 

"Oh,  my  father's  people — no.  But  they  are  our 
romance — "  Hilary  launched  out,  and  stopped. 

"Mayn't  I  hear  the  romance?" 

"Should  you  really  care  to?  Well,  once  upon  a 
time — I  mean  about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, there  came  over  from  France  to  the  English 
court  a  young  man  who  called  himself  Henri  de 

197 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Lancastre.  And  he  said  that  the  Duke  of  Lancaster 
was  his  father,  and  that  his  mother,  who  was  a 
French  lady  of  noble  birth,  had  been  married  to  the 
Duke  by  Catholic  rites  at  a  village  in  Auvergne,  and 
that  she  had  died  at  his  birth.  He  had  been  brought 
up  by  an  old  priest,  so  the  story  goes,  who  now 
sent  him  to  England.  Does  it  interest  you?" 
"It  sounds  a  fascinating  tale.  Pray  go  on." 
'Of  course  it's  all  must,  and  dust,  and  rust  now," 
smiled  Hilary,  "and  has  been  for  centuries.  But 
King  Richard  was  quite  nice  to  him,  and  made  him 
a  knight  banneret  and  a  captain  of  the  guard;  but 
the  Duke,  who  didn't  seem  to  want  him  about,  after 
a  time  got  him  sent  to  Ireland  to  quell  a  rising  of 
some  sort,  and  he  must  have  been  there  when  the 
Duke  died.  Anyway  the  next  thing  was  the  King's 
seizing  the  Duke's  estates — which  you  must  know 
about  so  much,  much  better  than  I  do — "  Hilary  ap- 
pealed. 

"I've  forgotten  all  my  history.    I  beg  you  will  go 


on." 


"And  I  suppose  Henri  de  Lancastre  thought  he 
had  better  not  come  back.  Anyway  he  didn't,  even 
when  his  half-brother  came  to  the  throne.  He  must 
have  been  on  bad  terms  with  his  half-brother." 

"Very  likely." 

"So  he  stayed  on  in  Ireland  among  the  kernes 
and  the  outlaws  and  married  one  of  them,  and  be- 

198 


came  just  a  squireen  there,  and  brought  up  his  fam- 
ily, and  he  called  his  eldest  son  Henry  Gaunt  Lan- 
caster. They  were  there  in  Tyrone  till  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  sinking  to  be  tenant  farmers 
and  publicans  and  all  sorts,  but  always  the  eldest 
son  being  called  Henry  Gaunt.  Then  the  last  of 
them  came  to  America,  but  some  time  before  that 
the  name  had  been  corrupted  the  way  we  spell  it. 
And  here  we  are,  father  and  I — and  his  name  is 
Henry  Gaunt  Lanchester." 

The  Princess  started,  ever  so  slightly  and  then 
laughed  merrily.  "What  a  very  amusing  story,"  she 
said.  "You  must  tell  it  to  Prince  Alfred.  Or  per- 
haps you  have  already  told  it  to  him." 

"No,"  said  Hilary.  "It  has  not  occurred  to  me 
to  tell  him.  You  asked  me,  you  know." 

"To  be  sure  I  did.  And  what  a  delightful  ro- 
mance it  is!  John  of  Gaunt  married  often,  and  not 
always  wisely.  The  last  time  his  governess — the 
Beauforts  owe  themselves  to  that.  But  it  took  an 
act  of  Parliament;  and  the  Pope,  too,  had  to  be  at  a 
little  trouble  about  it.  This  episode  must  have  been 
after  the  death  of  the  first  wife,  while  he  was  con- 
ducting that  unlucky  expedition  against  Charles. 
He  married  in  England,  he  married  in  Spain;  and 
now  you  say  he  married  in  France,  too.  And  an  ex- 
president  of  the  United  States  is  Henry  Gaunt  Lan- 
chester. How  very  droll !" 

199 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Hilary  placed  the  little  box  with  the  brooch  in 
it  definitely  on  the  table,  and  sat  up  very  straight. 

"He  is,  but  please  don't  mention  it,"  she  said. 
"He  used  to  be  Henry  G.,  but  he  dropped  the  'Gaunt' 
as  soon  as  he  thought  of  the  presidency.  It  would 
not  make  him  any  the  more  popular,  I  am  afraid,  in 
this  country." 

"I  shall  forget  it  at  once,"  said  the  Princess  plac- 
idly. "My  dear  Miss  Lanchester,  I  am  a  well  of 
forgotten  things."  She  turned  a  leisurely  glance  out 
of  the  window.  "I  see  Prince  Alfred  has  taken 
Lady  Althea  out  in  a  canoe,"  she  said.  "I  am 
amazed — simply  amazed — that  my  eyes  should  be- 
hold him  do  such  a  thing  as  that  again.  And  yet 
I  should  not  be  amazed.  He  had  the  prayers  of  all 
England — twice  every  Sunday  in  the  churches;  and 
I  am  told  in  many  a  Nonconformist  chapel,  too. 
And  how  happy  we  are  in  the  instrument  selected !  I 
esteem  it  a  privilege  to  have  met  Dr.  Morrow." 

"I  think  most  people  do,"  said  Hilary  quietly. 

The  Princess  joined  the  tips  of  her  fingers  to- 
gether and  her  eyes,  on  the  couple  in  the  canoe,  were 
gentle  with  gratitude. 

"My  dear,  dear  boy!  I  stand  to  him,  as  you  may 
know,  Miss  Lanchester,  and  have  long  stood,  in  the 
place  of  both  father  and  mother.  And  I  thought,  I 
am  sure  at  one  time  we  all  thought,  that  so  little 
could  be  done — that  he  was  not  to  be  spared  to  enter 

200 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

upon  the  future  which  opened  so  greatly  to  one  in 
his  place  in  the  world.  And  now  we  have  him  back, 
to  pledge  his  sword  anew  to  his  King;  and  to  dedi- 
cate his  person,  to  devote  his  life,  to  subordinate  his 
every  interest  and  hope  and  ambition  to  the  service 
of  his  country.  Standing  as  he  does  so  near  the 
throne,  you  will  realize  how  great  his  opportunities 
are.  You  and  dear  Mr.  Lanchester  have  shown 
him  such  kindness,  I  am  sure  I  may  safely  let  you 
partially  into  the  plans  that  are  now  maturing  for 
his  future  happiness — "  the  Princess  at  last  brought 
her  gaze  back  into  the  room  and  let  it  rest  calmly 
upon  Hilary — "for  his  future  happiness  in  mar- 
riage." 

Hilary  smiled  sweetly.  "We  should  love  to  hear," 
she  said. 

"I  must  name  no  names,  but  there  is  a  certain  dear 
little  friend  of  mine  not  a  thousand  miles  from  Pots- 
dam— an  alliance  that  would  cause  as  deep  satisfac- 
tion in  some  chancelleries  as  it  would  cause  dismay 
in  some  others.  You  will  understand  that  one  cannot 
speak  freely  of  these  things.  Or  you  would,  my  dear 
young  lady,  if  your  country  had  any  foreign  policy, 
which  of  course  it  hasn't." 

"I  beg  your  pardon " 

"I  assure  you  I  meant  no  offence.  And  that  is 
why  we  must  now  begin  to  hurry  Prince  Alfred's 
return  a  little,  I  grieve  to  say.  This  air — I  so  de- 

20 1 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

plore  his  being  obliged  to  leave  it.  I  myself  feel  a 
different  creature.  But  a  certain  important  individ- 
ual, with  whose  Government  for  many  unhappy  years 
our  relations  have  been  rather  strained,  is  now  anx- 
ious for  the  olive  branch,  and — well,  I  may  tell  you 
that  the  meeting  of  the  young  people  has  actually 
been  arranged.  You  will  see  it  all,  if  you  look,  in 
due  time  no  doubt  in  the  papers." 

"Actually  arranged,"  said  Hilary. 

"I  will  even — if  you  will  consider  it  a  very  great 
secret  indeed — whisper  where.  At  Clavismore,  the 
seat  of  the  Maccleughs,  near  Dunfermline.  My  dear 
little  friend  is  coming  to  be  with  her  aunt,  who  has 
taken  the  place  for  the  shooting.  The  visit  was  to 
have  been  earlier,  but  has  now  been  postponed  to  the 
end  of  October,  by  which  time  my  dearest  Alfred — 
Ah,  here  you  are,  Mr.  Lanchester!  To  take  your 
charming  girl  away  from  me,  I  fear!  You  should 
not  have  had  her  a  moment  sooner;  but  we  had  just 
finished  our  chat." 

They  made  their  farewells.  Hilary's  eyes  were 
very  bright,  her  manner  more  than  usually  self-pos- 
sessed. A  sudden  little  silver  bell  had  struck  in  her 
brain. 

"Sophy!"  it  tinkled,  "Sophy  Sternburg-Hofstein!" 
"The  Archduchess  Sophia  Ludovica  of  Sternburg- 
Hofstein!"  It  ran  into  a  chime. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

THERE  were  three  days  of  pleasant  expedi- 
tions by  wood-trail  and  water,  expeditions 
which  gave  Princess  Georgina  the  measure 
of  Alfred's  extraordinary  return  of  strength.  She 
mentioned  it  and  marveled  over  it  all  day  long.  Once 
or  twice,  when  he  picked  up  his  own  light  canoe  for 
a  short  portage,  or  dragged  a  heavy  log  to  the  fire, 
she  protested;  and  then  he,  poor  fellow,  was  betrayed 
into  boasting,  broadening  his  shoulders,  showing  her 
the  muscle  of  his  arms.  It  was  on  his  lips  to  say  to 
her,  "Old  Morrow  says  my  lungs  are  as  dry  as  his," 
but  he  checked  himself  in  time.  "You  see  how  the 
place  suits  me,"  he  told  her  instead;  and  she,  clasp- 
ing her  hands,  replied,  "But  it  has  been  everything 
to  you,  Alfred." 

It  was  not  till  Thursday  morning  that  Her  Royal 
Highness  sought  an  interview  with  Prince  Alfred. 
Lady  Althea  thought  this  was  leaving  it  rather  late ; 
but  the  Princess  said  that  she  would  do  it  in  her  own 
good  time  and  way,  and  in  that  time  and  way  she 
did  it.  After  breakfast  she  said: 

203 


{HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  should  like  to  look  at  the  lake  from  your  quar- 
ters for  a  little  while,  Alfred,"  and  they  went  over 
together,  he  carrying  rug  and  shawl,  and  insisting 
on  it  against  Vandy's  attempt  to  take  them.  He 
made  her  comfortable  in  his  own  armchair  outside  the 
hut,  and  sat  himself  on  a  wooden  bucket  that  Abe 
had  left  upside  down  in  the  sun.  Thus  balanced,  with 
his  hands  thrust  in  his  trousers  pockets,  he  waited 
upon  what  she  might  have  to  say. 

But  the  Princess  was  not  in  a  hurry.  She  opened 
her  velvet  bag  with  deliberation  and  took  out  her 
knitting.  Abe,  who  was  cleaning  fishing  tackle  at 
the  edge  of  the  water,  went  inside,  and  came  out 
again  with  a  soft  red  felt  hat,  which  he  placed  on 
the  ground  beside  Prince  Alfred.  Then  he  lifted 
his  own  with  awkward  ceremony  to  the  Princess, 
and  retired  further  along  the  lake. 

"That  good  fellow  is  your  body  servant,  I  sup- 
pose," said  she. 

"Abe?  Oh,  Abe  is  my  counselor  and  friend. 
Abe's  no  end  of  a  good  chap." 

"He  evidently  thinks  you  ought  to  put  your  hat 
on." 

"Well,  do  you  mind  if  I  do?  The  sun  does 
rather  get  one  in  the  eyes." 

"By  all  means,  put  it  on.  But  what  a  very  peculiar 
color!  Is  that  the  latest  fashion  in  New  York?" 

"It  is  rather  gay,  isn't  it?    We  wear  them  in  the 

204 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

woods  about  here  to  prevent  other  fellows  shooting 
us  by  mistake,"  he  told  her.  "There  used  to  be 
quite  a  number  of  accidents  that  way." 

"Really?  What  a  clever  precaution!  I  hope  you 
always  wear  it,  Alfred.  How  terrible  it  would  be  if 
— but  such  a  thing  is  unthinkable.  You  haven't 
asked  much  about  home  affairs,  Alfred.  But  I  sup- 
pose the  Times  has  kept  you  informed."  The  Prin- 
cess knitted  busily. 

Her  nephew  glanced  not  quite  comfortably 
through  the  door  of  his  cabin,  where  more  than  one 
tight  roll  of  that  newspaper  tied  and  addressed  by 
the  lady  who  now  questioned  him,  lay  in  a  corner. 

"Yes,  thanks  awfully,  Auntie  George.  It  was 
simply  too  good  of  you  to  take  all  that  trouble." 

"A  pleasure  to  me.  It  has  been  an  interesting  sum- 
mer in  many  ways.  Have  you  noticed  the  ex- 
traordinary popularity  of  Victor's  betrothal?  We 
are  all  so  pleased." 

"Does  he  like  the  Russian  girl?" 

"Like  her?  He  adores  her.  And  between  our- 
selves, Alfie,  I  do  not  think  he  was  altogether  pre- 
pared to.  But  before  he  and  darling  Sacha  had 
been  in  the  same  house  for  three  days,  poor  dear  old 
Vic  was  her  slave.  It  was  really  most  amusing. 
But  she  subjugated  us  all,  I  assure  you.  Even  I, 
with  my  natural  dislike  of  foreigners,  came  sous  le 
charme." 

205 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"How  jolly,"  said  Alfred  absently,  and  picked  up 
a  twig  of  balsam. 

"Doushka — doushka — darling,  you  know — it  is 
nothing  but  doushka-mg.  And  now,  dear  boy,  about 
your  own  plans.  You  will  not " 

"It's  not  possible,  Dr.  Morrow  says,  to  make 
them  very  far  ahead,"  Alfred  cut  in  hurriedly,  "but 
so  far  as  I  know  at  present " 

"I  was  going  to  say  you  will  not  be  surprised  to 
hear  that,  ever  since  the  more  reassuring  reports  of 
your  health  began  to  reach  us,  your  affairs  have  been 
occupying  a  good  deal  of  attention,  Alfie.  Natu- 
rally. And  one  part  of  my  mission  here  is  to  tell  you 
that  matters  are  afoot." 

Suddenly  and  with  great  speed  Alfred's  intention 
to  speak  about  Colorado,  which  had  been  bubbling 
near  the  surface  of  his  mind,  sank  to  the  bottom  of 
the  sea  there,  deep,  deep  down,  where  a  mermaid 
watched  over  it  with  a  face  like  Hilary  Lanchester's. 
He  began  to  strip  the  balsam  twig  of  its  greenery. 

"Yes?"  he  said. 

"To  begin  with,  Alfred,  we  are  all  hoping — John 
particularly  is  hoping — that  you  may  find  yourself 
able  to  return  with  me." 

"Next  week?  Absolutely  impossible,  I  am  afraid. 
If  only  for  the  reason  that  I  have  promised  the 
Phippses  to  spend  a  day  or  two  at  Washington  be- 
fore I  go,"  countered  Alfred.  "I  believe  that  has 

206 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

got  about,  and  after  the  ripping  way  this  country 
has  treated  me " 

The  objection  told.  Princess  Georgina  laid  down 
her  knitting  to  consider  it. 

"I  think  you  should  have  given  us  some  intima- 
tion of  that,"  she  said.  "It  does  make  a  difference. 
I  could  not  be  involved  in  a  visit  to  Washington — I 
have  not  come  prepared  for  anything  of  the  sort. 
What  is  the  earliest  date,  then,  Alfred,  that  will  en- 
able you  to  make  this  visit  before  you  sail?" 

"I  am  not  thinking  of  the  visit  at  present,  aunt. 
Dr.  Morrow  strongly  advises  me  to  winter  here.  He 
has  very  kindly  offered  me  his  house,  as  more  con- 
venient for  messing.  And  he  will  look  me  up,  he 
says,  every  fortnight  or  so.  I  thought  Vandy  might 
go  back  with  you — he's  frightfully  fed  up  with  this 
place — and  somebody  else  could  come,  if  it's  abso- 
lutely necessary." 

"Major  Scrope  might  be  appointed.  It  would  be 
some  little  acknowledgment  of  his  wonderful  work 
on  the  Brahmapootra.  And  your  old  tutor,  Kenneth 
Talbot,  is  dying  to  be  sent,"  temporized  the  Prin- 
cess, lost  in  thought.  "You  certainly  have  the  gift 
of  attaching  people,  Alfred." 

"I'd  like  Scrope.  But  not  Tabby,  please.  He'd 
die  of  it.  There  isn't  a  knickknack  about  the  place," 
said  Alfred  with  an  encouraged  eye.  "The  man  I 
most  want  is  Henry  Hake.  He  might  bring  my  dog. 

207 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

Hake  and  Tinker  would  both  be  no  end  of  use  to 
me  here." 

"I  don't  think  Hake  could  come.  He's  married — 
the  housekeeper's  daughter,  at  Sandringham — and 
his  wife  is  expecting.  Tinker,  dear  thing — I  saw  him 
just  before  we  started — was  as  fit  as  fit.  I  said  to 
him,  'Any  message  for  master,  Tinker?'  and  he 
barked  loudly.  I  am  sure  he  understood." 

"Hake  married !    He  never  mentioned  it !" 

"He  wouldn't  perhaps,  writing  about  the  dog.  So 
Dr.  Morrow  recommends  you  to  winter  in  this 
lonely  place.  Surely  all  its  advantages  could  be  had, 
if  necessary,  in  Switzerland!  I  hope  he  will  think 
so,  for  I  fear,  Alfred — I  very  greatly  fear — that  it 
is  impossible." 

"What  makes  it  impossible?" 

Princess  Georgina  let  her  hands  and  her  knitting 
fall  into  her  lap,  measured  the  distance  to  Abe, 
glanced  about  her,  and  drew  her  chair  a  little  nearer 
to  her  nephew. 

"There  are  the  most  important  reasons  why  you 
should  return  at  once  to  England,  Alfred.  You  have 
become  part  of  a  very  significant  arrangement  between 
ourselves  and  the  Wilhelmstrasse.  I  tell  you  this  at 
once,  because,  knowing  your  character  as  I  do,  I  am 
sure  you  would  prefer  it  to  any  beating  about  the 
bush.  I  have  to  some  extent  managed  Victor.  You, 
Alfred,  I  should  never  attempt  to  manage."  She 

208 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

paused  and  smiled  at  Prince  Alfred,  who  stopped 
peeling  his  balsam  twig  long  enough  to  say, 

"I  should  be  glad  then,  Aunt  Georgina,  if  you 
wouldn't  beat  about  the  bush." 

"Certain  negotiations  with  the  Kaiser's  govern- 
ment would  be  materially  assisted  by — don't  jump — 
by  your  marriage  to  one  of  the  young  German  Arch- 
duchesses, Alfred.  There  are,  as  you  know,  three, 
an  alliance  with  any  of  whom  would  be  extremely 
passlich.  But  Heinrich  has  reasons  of  his  own  for 
preferring  that  it  should  be  Sophia  of  Sternburg- 
Hofstein;  and  I  happen  to  know  that  it  is  his  special 
wish  that  you  and  she  should  meet  at  as  early  a  date 
as  possible.  We  propose,  therefore,  your  health 
having  been  under  Divine  Providence  practically  re- 
established, to  carry  out  the  original  plan  of  last 
June — it  matured  during  the  Kaiser's  visit — that  So- 
phy should  come  with  her  aunt  to  Clavismore,  and 
that  you  should  find  yourself  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. The  Archduchess  Valerie  is  my  cousin  by 
marriage,  and  she  has  very  naturally  already  invited 
me " 

Alfred  put  up  his  hand,  and  the  Princess  Georgina 
had  an  instant  of  remembering  that  this  was  the 
King's  brother;  while  she  was  only  his  aunt.  The 
young  man's  face  had  gone  very  white  and  sharp; 
his  mouth  had  taken  its  most  "difficult"  line. 

"I  would  rather  not  know  anything  more  about 

209 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

it,"  he  said.     "I  shall  not  marry.     My  wealth  will 
not  permit  it." 

"Be  reasonable,  Alfred.    You  are  recovered." 
"Not  enough  for  that.     Ask  Dr.  Morrow." 
"But  I  have  asked  Dr.  Morrow.     Without  mak- 
ing any  fuss  about  it,  I  said  to  him  only  this  morn3 
ing,   'I  hope  we  may  now  consider  that  the  state 
of  the    Prince's   lungs   would   be   no  bar,   for   in- 
stance, to  marriage,'  and  his  reply  was,  'None  what- 
ever.' " 

"I  can  only  say  that  he  talked  very  differently  in 
July.  I  know  what  his  ideas  are  upon  that  subject. 
And  I  know  what  my  own  are." 

"My  dear  Alfred,  those  notions  are  all  very  well 
and  to  be  encouraged  among  ordinary  people;  but 
princes  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  Princes  must 
marry.  It  is  their  first  duty,  not  to  themselves,  but 
to  their  country.  What  horrors  there  have  been  that 
wise  marriages,  and  plenty  of  issue,  would  have  pre- 
vented !" 

"The  succession  doesn't  lie  with  me." 
"You  are  very  near  it.  John  has  been  bitterly  dis- 
appointed so  far — bitterly.  There  is  Victor,  of 
course,  but  who  knows  ?  He  is  far  from  strong.  We 
urge  nothing  upon  you  that  would  be  repugnant  to 
your  feelings,  dear  boy,  only  that  you  should  allow 
yourself  to  receive  an  impression  of  a  very  dear  and 
good  girl,  and  let  matters  take  their  course.  It  is 

210 


most  unusual  to  explain  with  all  this  candor  in  ad- 
vance, but  knowing  you  as  I  do " 

"It  is  useless  to  talk  to  me  about  marriage,  Aunt 
Georgina,"  said  her  nephew,  and  threw  away  the 
twig  of  balsam  as  if  it  had  been  the  happiness  of 
a  lifetime.  He  said  no  more,  but  looked  at  the 
ground,  and  that  was  the  moment  when,  as  the 
Princess  told  Lady  Althea  afterwards,  her  heart 
sank  within  her.  It  sank  depressed  but  not  despair- 
ing, not  by  any  means  despairing.  There  was  plenty 
of  time,  and  in  England  plenty  of  influence.  Here 
in  the  wilderness  the  Princess  was  alone;  at  home 
she  would  be  reinforced,  she  warmed  to  think,  by 
what  overwhelming  allies.  In  the  end  the  highest, 
best  course  must  prevail.  In  the  meantime — 

"Be  that  as  it  may,  Alfred — I  hope  you  will  change 
your  mind,  but  be  that  as  it  may — you  will  understand 
what  a  very  awkward  dilemma  would  be  forced 
upon  John  and  all  of  us  by  any  failure  on  your  part 
at  least  to  appear  at  Clavismore.  Everybody  knows, 
Heinrich  better  than  anybody,  that  you  are  perfectly 
well;  and  he  is  more  than  usually  jumpy  just  now. 
Victor's  affair  was  to  him  a  great  disappointment. 
Dear  Sacha  had  more  than  one  suitor,  you  must 
know.  Heinrich  has  set  his  heart  upon  this  marriage. 
It  may  not  take  place.  Quite  probably  Sophy  may 
not  be  able  to  bear  the  sight  of  you — very  likely, 
indeed,  if  you  look  as  you  are  looking  now,  dear 

211 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

boy.  But  the  meeting  we  are  committed  to;  the 
meeting  in  courtesy  must  take  place.  I  am  here  to  tell 
you  that  from  your  King,  Alfred,  and  to  beg  that 
you  will  so  order  your  affairs  as  to  consult  his  pleasure 
in  this  matter,  as  well  as  the  interests  of  your  coun- 
try." 

The  Princess  had  risen  as  she  spoke,  and  stood, 
velvet  bag  and  knitting  notwithstanding,  a  very 
august  and  impressive  figure.  Prince  Alfred  also  got 
upon  his  feet.  He  stood  looking  at  the  ground  for 
a  full  moment  before  he  spoke,  his  hands  in  his 
pockets,  frowning,  as  Lady  Althea  heard  afterwards, 
quite  detestably. 

"I  must  not  detain  you,  Aunt  Georgina,  if  you 
have  definitely  planned  to  go  back  to  England  by  the 
next  ship  as  you  tell  me.  I  do  not  find  it  convenient 
to  go  with  you;  but  you  may  say  to  John  that  I 
will  carry  out  his  wishes,  and  be  available,  without 
prejudice,  for  this  occasion  you  speak  of  by  the  last 
week  in  October.  On  the  definite  and  clear  under- 
standing, which  I  must  ask  him  to  take  the  trouble 
to  cable  me,  that  I  shall  not  be  in  any  way  prevented 
from  carrying  out  the  orders  of  the  doctor  who  has 
saved  my  life,  and  returning  here  for  the  winter." 

"My  dearest  Alfred — "  exclaimed  the  Princess, 
and  approached  him  with  outstretched  arms.  But  he, 
like  no  prince,  but  a  very  unmannerly  young  man, 
evaded  her  embrace  and  disappeared  into  his  cabin. 

212 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

IN  the  short  time  that  remained  of  his  aunt's  visit, 
Alfred  showed  what  the  Princess  described  to 
her  companion  as  a  thoroughly  nice  spirit. 
"Considering,"  as  she  said,  "that  we  had  something 
very  like  a  little  tiff."  He  devoted  hours  every  day  to 
her  entertainment,  made  all  arrangements  himself, 
and  took  immense  trouble  about  the  details  of  a  rath- 
er lengthy  expedition  to  Lake  Bonaparte,  the  spot 
which  the  Princess  desired,  of  all  the  mountain  region, 
principally  to  see.  It  came  off  without  a  hitch.  The 
Princess  found  the  place  profitable  both  for  its 
beauty  and  its  moral. 

"When  one  reflects  that  here,  in  this  lonely  and 
primitive  retreat,  a  would-be  king  found  peace  to 
meditate  upon  the  reverses  that  attend  a  too  vaulting 
ambition,  one  is  touched,"  she  said  handsomely,  "one 
is  touched  to  the  heart.  Poor,  unhappy  Joseph  Bona- 
parte !" 

The  Princess  enjoyed  it  immensely  and  talked  of 
the  ill-fated  family  most  of  the  way  back.  She  was 
never  quite  convinced,  she  said,  that  we  in  England 

213 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

had  not  treated  the  ill-fated  family's  ill-fated  head 
with  greater  severity  than  was  really  necessary;  and 
Dr.  Morrow  abandoned  every  belief  he  held  about 
the  matter,  because  he  could  not  find  himself,  with 
any  comfort,  in  agreement  with  this  lady  upon  any, 
subject.  The  doctor  fragrantly  declared  that  in  his 
opinion  Napoleon  deserved  all  that  came  to  him.  He 
was  an  odd  man  in  many  ways,  Dr.  Morrow. 

Mr.  Lanchester  had  immediately  placed  his  house 
at  the  disposal  of  the  party  for  the  exploration  of 
Old  Loon  Lake,  and  a  day  was  fixed.  That  was  the 
single  occasion  on  which  the  Princess  was  compelled 
to  own  to  overfatigue  and  excuse  herself.  With  that 
one  exception  the  way  she  entered  into  everything  was 
astonishing.  Lady  Althea  went  to  represent  her,  and 
the  Princess  openly  lamented  the  loss  of  so  delightful 
a  party;  but  her  nephew  took  bitter  counsel  over  the 
incident. 

"If  it  had  been  a  female  Lobengula,  with  rings 
in  her  nose,  she  would  have  gone,"  he  said  wrath- 
fully,  in  his  first  moment  of  privacy.  This  was  what 
his  Aunt  Georgina  would  have  called  tiresome  of 
him,  as  he  must  have  known  that  the  ladies  of  his 
Family  did  not  ordinarily  return  visits,  and  the  claims 
of  a  female  Lobengula  would  have  been  quite  special. 
But  by  now  there  was  no  longer  any  doubt  that 
Alfred  was  in  love. 

The  world  was  aware  in  an  unofficial  way,  that 

214 


'HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Princess  Georgina  with  a  lady-in-waiting  was  in  the 
act  of  a  visit  to  the  interesting  patient  at  Colson's 
Point;  and  Dr.  Morrow  began  to  complain  of  the 
telephone  at  Sumach.  There  was  no  telephone  at 
the  camp;  he  had  seen  to  that.  The  idea  had  per- 
haps got  about  that  if  the  Prince  was  well  enough 
to  enjoy  a  visit  from  relatives  he  was  well  enough  to 
contribute  something  to  the  entertainment  of  the 
American  reading  public.  Dr.  Morrow  was  com- 
pelled to  sit  up  the  greater  part  of  one  night  in  the 
composition  of  what  he  called  another  coat  for  the 
wolves.  It  kept  them  off  for  the  time,  however.  No 
reporters  appeared.  The  doctor  had  not  yet  an- 
nounced the  completion  of  the  cure.  He  asked  the 
newspapers,  like  good  fellows,  to  wait  for  that;  and 
they  did. 

The  Princess  Georgina  had  suffered  much  from 
reporters,  and  one  of  the  pleasures  of  her  life  was 
to  outwit  them.  To  this  end,  while  it  was  generally 
understood  that  she  was  to  return  from  New  York 
by  the  Magnific,  she  quietly  arranged  to  sail  from 
Montreal  by  the  Empress  of  the  Seas,  where  she 
would  be  met  and  seen  off,  entirely  in  the  manner  of 
a  happy  thought,  by  her  brother  at  Ottawa.  "My 
brother  at  Ottawa,"  the  Princess  always  called  the 
Duke,  and  those  to  whom  she  spoke  felt  pleased  and 
grateful.  All  but  Dr.  Morrow,  who  would  hardly 
have  been  won  if  she  had  referred  to  the  reigning 

215 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

sovereign  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as  my  nephew 
Jack.  To  further  confound  the  newspapers,  the 
Princess  decided  against  the  express,  and  in  favor 
of  a  slow  train.  She  said  with  truth  that  she  would 
be  able  to  see  much  more  of  the  country,  and  Lady 
Althea  would  be  much  less  likely  to  be  sick. 

The  ladies  with  their  maids  were  to  make  the 
journey  alone;  it  would  be  quite  an  adventure,  as 
the  Princess  said.  Colonel  Vandeleur,  who  was  again 
to  have  escorted  them,  had  strangely  contracted 
mumps,  and  was  in  quarantine.  "How  he  has  man- 
aged to  do  it  in  this  air,"  commented  the  Princess, 
with  some  displeasure,  "passes  my  comprehension," 
and  walked  herself  carefully  round  the  shack  in 
which  the  unhappy  Vandy  was  confined.  The  Prin- 
cess, especially  away  from  home,  would  always  be 
satisfied.  Vandy  waved  his  farewells  sadly  through 
the  window. 

So  when  No.  99,  Mixed  Accommodation,  steamed 
into  the  station  at  Moose  Lick,  there  were  upon  the 
platform  besides  the  ladies  and  their  maids,  only 
His  Royal  Highness,  Prince  Alfred,  Mr.  Henry  Lan- 
chester  and  Dr.  Morrow.  Abe  and  Riley  cannot  be 
counted,  as  they  were  obliged  to  stay  with  the  teams. 
Dr.  Morrow  had  ordered  a  "drawing-room"  com- 
partment; Mr.  Lanchester  brought  some  marvelous 
roses,  also  commanded  from  New  York.  The  ex- 
President  did  not  share  Dr.  Morrow's  antipathy  to 

216 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  Princess.  "She  has  her  little  ways,"  he  said,  "but 
she  takes  the  world  with  a  high  hand.  I'm  delighted 
to  have  come  in  contact  with  her" ;  and  the  roses  were 
a  tribute  of  perfect  sincerity.  The  unexpected  flowers 
gave  pleasure  to  the  Princess;  if  looks  could  express 
it,  they  gave  even  more  to  Alfred.  He  sought  in  the 
toilet-room  himself  for  a  glass  of  water  for  them,  and 
pulled  out  the  little  side  table  to  stand  them  on.  In 
the  bustle  of  settling  in  nobody  but  Lady  Althea  no- 
ticed how  gently  he  touched  their  petals.  The  Prin- 
cess at  once  had  the  window  down,  and  Alfred  busied 
himself  for  her  comfort,  disposed  of  her  dressing-bag, 
hunted  out  her  salts,  and  found  the  copy  of  the 
Spectator  which  she  had  been  reading  on  the  voyage 
over,  and  had  not  finished.  Dr.  Morrow  and  Mr. 
Lanchester,  on  the  platform,  responded  to  parting 
compliments  through  the  window.  For  the  second 
time  Her  Royal  Highness  embraced  her  nephew. 

"And  now,  dearest  Alfie,  I  think  you  must  get  off." 

"I  assure  you,  Auntie  George,  there's  loads  of 
time.  Where  is  your  lavender  water?  I  know  you 
never  go  a  yard  by  train  without  your  lavender 
water." 

The  lavender  water  was  found,  and  the  Princess 
launched  once  more  into  appreciation  of  Alfred's 
thoughtfulness. 

"But  now,  darling  boy,  you  really  must  get  off," 
she  told  him.  "Dr.  Morrow,  lay  your  commands 

217 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

upon  him.  He  must,  mustn't  he?  Good-by  once 
more,  my  dearest  Alfred,  and  do  go." 

Prince  Alfred,  looking  out  behind  his  aunt,  sent  Dr. 
Morrow  a  look.  The  doctor  took  out  his  watch. 

"Three  minutes  more,"  he  said  cheerfully.  "Are 
you  quite  sure,  madam,  that  you  have  that  prescrip- 
tion for  lumbago?"  The  Princess  searched  in  her 
velvet  bag. 

Number  99,  Mixed  Accommodation,  gave  a  slight 
but  meaning  jerk,  and  began  slowly  to  move. 

"Alfred!"  cried  his  aunt. 

"Only  shunting,"  said  the  incorrigible  Morrow, 
with  his  eyes  on  Alfred's  face. 

"I  say — "  began  Mr.  Lanchester.  "Are  you  sure 
of  that,  Morrow?" 

But  Number  99  had  quickened  noticeably,  and 
was  fast  getting  into  what,  for  her,  was  pace,  and 
pace  with  definite  intention.  The  Princess  disap- 
peared for  a  moment;  then  her  head  came  through 
the  window  and  both  hands  wildly  waving.  Then  the 
train  rounded  a  curve  and  was  rapidly  lost  to  view. 

"May  I  ask  whether  that  was  the  intention?"  asked 
Mr.  Lanchester  of  the  doctor,  on  the  platform. 

"It  wasn't  mine,"  said  he. 

"Then  what,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  is  he  up 
to?" 

"I  don't  know  what  he's  up  to,"  replied  the  doc- 
tor. "But  I'm  backing  him  anyhow."  His  face  had 

218 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

all  the  complicity  of  a  schoolboy  in  the  prank  of 
another. 

"We'll  consult  the  timetable  and  find  out  the  first 
stop,"  Lanchester  said.  "Shall  you  send  Abe,  or  go 
yourself?  Or  can  I  be  of  any  use?" 

"My  dear  chap,  I  shall  neither  send  Abe,  nor  go 
myself,  and  I'd  rather  you  weren't  of  any  use,  thanks 
all  the  same.  Abe  will  put  up  his  team  and  wait 
around  till  the  Prince  comes  back  or  wires — that's 
as  much  as  I'm  going  to  do  to  interfere  with  him. 
Come  over  and  have  lunch,  will  you?" 

"Don't  you  feel  the  least  anxiety?" 

"Not  a  mite.  I  know  my  young  man.  There's 
Abe.  I'll  instruct  him.  Are  you  coming?" 

"Why  yes,  thanks,  I  think  I  am,"  said  Lanchester, 
but  he  looked  concerned ;  and  as  they  drove  away  into 
the  woods  behind  Riley  his  glance  traveled  more 
than  once  to  the  railway  line,  as  if  he  expected  to  see 
Number  99  reappear. 

That,  however,  was  placing  too  much  confidence  iri 
the  Princess  Georgina's  high  hand  with  the  world. 
In  the  drawing-room  car  there  was  no  commotion 
until  the  gathered  momentum  of  the  train  put  an  end 
to  all  supposition  that  it  was  moving  for  its  own 
convenience  from  track  to  track.  Alfred,  then,  to 
excitement  from  the  ladies,  got  up  and  hurried  to 
the  platform  of  the  car,  but  was  rapidly  overtaken 
by  Lady  Althea,  who  clung  to  his  arm  with  high 

219 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

and  terrified  protests.  The  Princess,  too,  left  her 
seat  and  followed;  but  it  was  only  to  express  ex- 
treme annoyance. 

"Althea,  I  beg  of  you,  cease  that  silly  shrieking. 
Of  course  he  can't  get  off  with  the  train  moving  at 
this  rate.  I  will  have  it  sent  back." 

"I'm  afraid  we  can't,"  her  nephew  informed  her. 

"Oh  yes,  we  can."  The  Princess  rang,  and  sank 
again  into  her  seat.  After  a  moment  or  two  and 
not  less,  a  negro  porter  entered,  in  a  spotless  white 
coat  and  all  the  dignity  of  his  kind. 

"Will  you  please  stop  the  train?"  said  the  Prin- 
cess briefly.  "This  gentleman  has  been  carried  on 
by  mistake." 

"No,  Mam.  Dis  here's  a  passenger  train,  she 
ain't  no  trolley.  She  don't  stop  now  short  o'  Cas- 
cade. The  gentleman  kin  get  out  thar  if  he  want  to." 

It  is  possible  that  if  the  porter  had  known  whom 
he  was  addressing  he  might  have  used  other  terms, 
though  there  is  no  way  of  vouching  for  it.  The 
Princess  had  one  imperative  impulse  to  tell  him, 
but  caught  Lady  Althea's  eye  in  time.  Not  for  this 
had  she  outwitted  the  reporters  of  New  York. 
Neither  was  she  bandying  words  with  the  creature 
before  her. 

"You  may  go,"  she  said;  but  authority  in  a  white 
coat  was  not  going,  at  that  moment.  He  began  to 
dust  the  chair  backs. 

220 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Want  I   should  send  the  newspape'   boy?" 

"You  may  go,"  repeated  the  Princess. 

"I  know  I  may,  but  I  got  to  do  my  business,"  the 
porter  replied,  and  slapped  a  cloud  out  of  a  plush 
seat.  "You  seem  to  bin  lettin'  a  lot  o'  cinders  in  at 
that  there  winder.  I  got  to  git  it  up." 

"Don't  touch  that  window,"  said  Alfred,  "and 
make  yourself  scarce,  will  you?" 

"Got  to  git  it  up." 

The  fat  person  of  the  negro  was  already  leaning 
across  Lady  Althea  and  negotiating  the  catches  o£ 
the  window.  It  was  fat  but  it  could  not  have  been 
muscular,  otherwise  Prince  Alfred  could  not  have 
expressed  his  feelings  as  he  did.  With  one  stride  he 
seized  the  porter  by  the  collar  of  his  spotless  coat, 
jerked  him  back  from  the  window,  and  with  a  well- 
aimed  kick  sent  him  flying  through  the  door  of  the 
coupe  into  his  own  linen  closet,  which  happened  to 
be  open  just  outside.  He  went  with  such  single  in- 
tention that  his  spotless  coat  remained  in  Alfred's 
hand,  and  had  to  be  thrown  after  him. 

"He  won't  trouble  us  again,"  said  Alfred,  and  he 
didn't.  He  went  instead  to  confer  with  the  second 
waiter  of  the  restaurant  car,  who  advised  him,  after 
consideration,  not  to  take  out  a  summons  for  as- 
sault, on  the  ground  that  whoever  the  parties  in  the 
drawing-room  might  or  might  not  be,  they  was  sut- 
t'nly  some  folks. 

221 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Meanwhile  the  Princess  and  Lady  Althea,  rather 
humbled  by  the  sudden  explosion  of  the  irate  male, 
had  found  it  providential  that  Alfred  had  been  car- 
ried off  in  the  train. 

"These  things  never  happen,"  observed  his  Aunt 
Georgina,  "without  a  purpose.  The  man  might 
have  given  us  a  great  deal  of  annoyance.  But  how, 
Alfred,  will  you  get  away  from  this  Cascade  place?" 

He  took  a  timetable  from  his  pocket  and  consulted 
it,  she  was  long  afterwards  to  declare,  as  if  he  had 
never  seen  it  before. 

"There's  a  train  back  in  half  an  hour,"  he  told 
her,  but  did  not  say,  as  she  was  later  to  remember, 
that  he  would  travel  by  it.  "Morrow  will  leave  one 
of  the  teams,  I  know  he  will.  I'll  be  all  right." 

"The  doctor  will  hardly  leave  the  station  himself 
until  you  return,  Alfred,"  she  rebuked  him  mildly. 
"He  seems  to  be  rather  a  character,  but  I  can't  im- 
agine him  doing  that.  Well,  it  is  not,  dear  boy,  as 
I  could  have  approved  if  it  had  been  in  any  way  fore- 
seen; but  as  it  is  I  shall  immensely  enjoy  another 
hour  of  your  company." 

With  which  and  no  further  ado,  Her  Royal  High- 
ness removed  her  bonnet,  put  on  a  comfortable  travel- 
ing mutch,  and  opened  her  Spectator. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

WELL,  Prince,  what  did  you  think  of  the  me- 
tropolis of  Cascade?"  asked  Doctor  Mor- 
row next  morning  at  breakfast. 

Alfred  usually  lunched  out  of  doors  and  dined 
alone  with  Vandy,  but  always  breakfasted  with  the 
doctor,  who  then  looked  him  over  for  the  day. 
Vandy  being  still  in  bed,  the  two  were  alone. 

"Nice  little  town,"  said  Alfred  cheerfully.  "I 
spent  two  or  three  hours  there,  strolling  about,  very 
pleasantly.  Got  my  hair  cut." 

"Find  anything  to  eat  there?" 

"Didn't  want  anything  to  eat.  We  lunched  on  the 
train." 

"You  don't  seem  to  want  much  this  morn- 
ing. What's  the  matter  with  that  mush,  High- 
ness?" 

"Nothing  the  matter  with  it.  Yes,  there  is — the 
color.  I  hate  yellow  things  to  eat,  doctor." 

"Ought  to  be  finished,  Prince.  Try  a  bigger 
spoon.  I'll  let  you  off  with  one  sausage.  Cascade 
isn't  one  of  our  show-places ;  but  if  you  wanted  to  get 

223 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

your  hair  cut  there,  there's  a  shorter  way  than  by 
rail,  you  know." 

"So  Abe  told  me,  coming  home — up  the  North 
Arm  and  along  Mud  Creek  and  then  across.  But  I 
shouldn't  have  had  the  pleasure  of  going  with  my 
aunt,"  said  Alfred.  "And  the  creek  isn't  always 
good,  Abe  says." 

"Sure  to  be,  this  time  of  year  and  after  the  rain 
we  had  in  September.  Not  that  I've  ever  tried 
it,  but  I  don't  do  much  business  in  Cascade,"  the  doc- 
tor told  him.  "It's  a  burg  I  generally  pass  by.  I 
wonder  how  the  ladies  are  getting  on  at  Montreal?" 

"They'll  be  quite  all  right,"  said  Alfred.  "Major 
Winter,  of  my  uncle's  Staff,  was  to  meet  them  at 
Utica  on  the  quiet,  and  my  uncle  himself  and  one  of 
the  other  fellows  at  Montreal.  I  have  no  anxiety." 

"No,"  said  Doctor  Morrow,  giving  him  a  thought- 
ful glance;  "you  don't  look  as  if  you  had.  Feeling 
fine,  eh?  With  the  nerves  a  little  on  the  outside,  I 
think'.  A  quiet  day,  please." 

"All  right.  I  can  have  Abe,  I  suppose.  I  want 
to  send  him  over  to  the  Lanchesters  with  a  note." 

"Have  him  by  all  means,  son;  but  you  won't  find 
Henry  Lanchester.  He's  gone  to  New  York  to-day 
about  that  absurd  mine  of  his;  won't  be  back  till 
Wednesday." 

"Oh,  is  he?  Really.  Thanks  for  telling  me. 
But  I  think  I'll  have  Abe  all  the  same,  doctor;  and 

224 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

afterwards  I  want  him  to  go  to  Moose  Lick  with  a 
telegram.  You  said  I  might  have  anybody  I  wanted 
now,  and  I'm  wiring  for  a  friend  of  mine  named 
Youghall,  a  man  I  knew  at  Oxford.  That's  all  right, 
isn't  it?" 

"Why,  of  course.  You'll  find  Abe  cutting  up  veni- 
son, I  think,  out  back.  We  run  on  low  gear,  though, 
to-day,  please.  It's  a  long  hill,  you  know,  Prince." 

They  got  up  to  leave  the  table,  and,  as  they  went 
through  the  door  together,  Alfred's  arm  slipped 
around  the  shoulders  of  his  physician.  "You  don't 
know  how  much  I  owe  you,  Doctor." 

"Humbug,"  said  Morrow.     "It's  the  other  way." 

Alfred  went  to  his  own  quarters  and  wrote  his 
note.  It  was  addressed  to  Hilary  in  his  irregular, 
careful  hand  that  formed  every  letter  and  no  more, 
and  though  it  seemed  to  be  important  he  wrote  it  only 
once.  There  was  no  delay  about  the  writing  of  it, 
because  he  had  put  everything  ready  beforehand, 
even  to  candle,  wax  and  seal,  and  he  chose  his  best 
notepaper  to  write  upon.  Then,  for  a  protection 
against  Abe's  fingers,  he  cast  about  him  and  found 
a  piece  of  clean  brown  wrapping  paper.  Hilary, 
when  she  received  and  read  it,  put  it  tenderly  back 
into  the  clean  brown  paper,  and  there  she  keeps  it  to 
this  day. 

They  met  the  next  morning  at  ten  o'clock,  one  as 
punctual  as  the  other,  on  the  near  side  of  the  portage 

225 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

to  Old  Loon  Lake.  Hilary  walked  across,  leaving 
her  canoe.  She  was  dressed  in  her  roughest  and 
oldest  of  short  tweed  coats  and  skirts — Alfred  had 
said  an  "expedition" — rather  shabby  brown  boots 
and  a  little  soft  green  hat  that  knocked  into  any 
shape  over  her  eyes.  But  for  her  lovely  face  and 
the  spirit  in  it  she  might  have  been  a  wandering 
tree. 

They  waved  and  called;  he  paddled  close;  and 
she  got  in  upon  her  cushion  in  the  bows,  he  holding 
the  canoe  steady  with  his  paddle. 

"This  is  splendid,"  he  said,  but  pushed  off  with- 
out a  word  of  the  explanation  she  was  waiting  for. 

She  searched  his  face  for  it,  and  saw  a  growing 
satisfaction  as  the  water  quickly  widened  between 
the  canoe  and  the  shore.  But  something  else  was 
there,  something  new.  She  wondered.  "Why  so 
fast?"  she  asked  him. 

"We  have  a  long  way  to  go,"  he  told  her. 

"You  said  rather  a  special  expedition,"  she  said, 
"but  I  didn't  gather  that  it  would  be  a  long  one." 

"I'm  afraid  it  will  take  most  of  the  day." 

"Then  I'm  afraid,"  said  Hilary,  "that  I  can't  go." 

"You  will  when  you  know,"  he  told  her.  "You'll 
feel  that  you  must.  It  will  be  your  duty,  you  know." 

"Please  stop  paddling  and  tell  me." 

"I'll  tell  you,  but  I  won't  stop  paddling.  Have  you 
ever  been  to  Cascade?" 

226 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Never  in  my  life.  There's  nothing  to  do  at  Cas- 
cade." 

"There  is  to-day." 

She  looked  at  him  puzzled,  and  out  of  a  certain 
timidity  that  rose  in  her  she  said,  "How  is  Colonel 
Vandeleur?" 

"In  bed,"  said  Alfred.  He,  too,  seemed  willing 
to  gain  time.  "You  never  saw  such  a  jaw,"  he  told 
her.  "We  exchanged  a  few  words  this  morning 
through  the  window;  Vandy's  were  mostly  bad  ones." 

"Oh !"  She  laughed,  but  could  think  of  no  more 
to  say. 

Nor  apparently  could  he,  except  about  the  great 
matter  which  filled  his  mind  and  before  which  she 
was  already  troubled  without  knowing  one  word  of 
it.  He  kept  silent  for  another  moment.  Then  he 
plunged. 

"Do  you  know  what  my  aunt  came  over  for? 
That's  a  silly  question,  because  you  couldn't.  She 
came  with  instructions  to  get  me  out  of  Morrow's 
hands  and  back  to  Europe  as  quickly  as  it  could  be 
done." 

"I  was  sure  of  it!"  exclaimed  Hilary. 

"I've  been  given  my  orders  and  in  such  a  form 
that  I  can't  disregard  them.  I  must  go.  It's  too 
beastly,  but  I  must.  Morrow,  who  knows  all  about 
it,  has  written  for  passages  for  us  on  the  twentieth." 

"Next  Tuesday!" 

227 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Yes.  But  there  is  something  more.  I  am  not 
only  to  go  back  at  once,  but  I  am  also  to  go  back 
in  order  to  become  engaged  to  be  married  I  He 
looked  at  her  as  if  he  had  exploded  a  bombshell 
before  her,  but  she  made  no  special  sign.  "Hil," 
he  appealed  simply,  "doesn't  that  distress  you?" 

"If — if  it  distresses  you,  it  does.  But  I  have  al- 
ways known  it  would  have  to  come,"  she  said. 

He  should  have  made  some  gesture  of  tragic  in- 
dignation, but  all  he  did  was  to  throw  his  cap  into  the 
bottom  of  the  canoe  and  rumple  his  hair. 

"I  believed  that  I  could  stand  out  against  any- 
thing of  the  sort  because  of  my  lungs,"  he  told  her. 
"But  Morrow,  dear  old  chap,  gives  me  a  clean  bill 
of  health.  That  would  be  all  right,  but  unfortunately 
he  gave  it  to  my  aunt — sort  of  accidentally;  but  there 
you  are,  you  know.  The  fact  is,  Hilary,"  said  Prince 
Alfred  wretchedly,  "I'm  awfully  well,  and  old  Perry 
will  find  it  out  in  about  ten  seconds  when  I  get 
home."  , 

"You  can't  expect  me,"  said  Hilary,  "to  be  sorry 
for  that." 

"And  Colorado?    And  all  we  were  going  to  do?" 

Before  the  reproach  in  his  eyes  she  looked  away, 
out  on  the  water. 

"There  is  that.  I'm  awfully  sorry  about  Colorado. 
But  perhaps  you  will  feel  differently,  now  that  you  are 
well,  and  will  find  a  great  future  over  there.  I  think 

228 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

it  is  quite  likely  that  I  shall  have  interesting  things  to 
do,  too,  in  my  own  country.  My  father  will  almost 
certainly  consent  to  nomination  again,  and,  if  he 
does,  the  people  will  make  him  president.  And  he 
depends  a  great  deal  upon  me." 

There  was  a  curious  aloofness  in  her  tone.  It 
was  almost  as  if  she  wished  to  assert  some  dignity 
or  to  impress  him  with  some  circumstance  with  which 
he  had  nothing  to  do — she,  Hilary! 

But  he  caught  at  it.  "All  the  better!"  he  cried; 
"I  do  hope  he  will.  But,  Hil,"  he  said  gently,  "you 
care  a  little  about  me,  too,  don't  you?" 

She,  who  a  moment  ago  would  teach  him  how 
little  she  cared,  said  honestly,  "I  don't  think  I  ought 
to  let  you  ask  me  that,  but — of  course  I  do,  Alfred. 
YOU  shouldn't  ask  me  either.  You  know." 

Alfred  reflected.  He  did  know.  It  was  the  hap- 
piest, openest  secret  between  them,  this  thing  that 
they  never  talked  about,  and  had  been  for  weeks. 
But  he  had  to  be  careful.  "You  don't  ask  who  it  is 
that  my  brother  John  and  my  Aunt  Georgina  and 
the  Foreign  Office  and  a  few  other  people  want  me 
to  marry,"  he  said. 

"Because  I've  heard.  It's  Sophy,"  she  told  him; 
"and — and  you  are  awfully  lucky,  Alfred." 

"My  aunt  told  you!"  Hilary  nodded,  and  now 
he  could  see  that  in  spite  of  all  she  could  do  her  eyes 
were  full  of  tears.  "I  see.  My  aunt  has  always  got 

229 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

some  game  on,"  he  said  in  a  tone  of  anger.  "I  see," 
he  repeated,  and  indeed  he  did  see. 

"And  I  know  from  Sophy  too.  I  heard  from  her 
yesterday.  She  has  found  out  from  her  mother,  and 
she  is  almost  in  despair " 

"About  having  me!    There's  some  other  fellow!" 

Alfred's  face  glowed  with  such  radiant  hope  that 
Hilary  answered  with  a  little  peal  of  rather  un- 
steady laughter.  "There's  the  Archduke  Karl  Sal- 
vator,  who  is  scientific  and  socialistic  and  whom  she 
loves  desperately,  poor  Sophy !  And  the  Kaiser  won't 
hear  of  it  and  prefers  you." 

"The  blighter!"  breathed  Prince  Alfred  "But 
that's  a  great  relief  to  me,  Hil ;  not  that  it  would  mat- 
ter unless — I  know  the  women  of  that  family.  They 
always  do  as  they're  told.  The  Austrian  lot  are  very 
different.  And  I  know  just  the  amount  of  pressure 
I  would  have  to  resist  if  I  went  home  and  it  were 
possible  for  me  to  marry.  That's  why,  if  you 
will  help  me,  dear  Hil,  I  mean  to  make  it  impos- 
sible." 

"How?"    She  turned  startled  eyes  on  him. 

"By  being  married  already — to  you,"  he  delivered. 
"That  is  what  we  are  going  to  do  in  Cascade." 

He  had  all  the  air  of  proposing  to  her  a  supreme 
and  delightful  escapade,  and  she  managed  to  con- 
trol her  pounding  heart  sufficiently  to  rebuke  him. 

"You  shouldn't  say  wild,  impossible  things,  that 

230 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

.we  ought  not  even  to  think,"  she  told  him.  "I  am 
not  going  to  Cascade." 

"I  am,"  he  said,  and  in  fact  they  had  already 
turned  into  the  North  Arm. 

"You  are  dreaming,"  she  said,  with  her  eyes  on 
the  strokes  of  his  paddle.  "So  am  I.  Presently 
we  shall  both  wake  up,"  and  for  a  moment  neither 
of  them  spoke. 

Alfred  spoke  with  more  resolution  than  he  felt 
quite  sure  of.  At  any  moment  she  might  bid  him 
take  the  canoe  back  over  the  way  they  had  come,  and 
he  knew  that  if  she  did  so  bid  him  he  would  be 
obliged  to  obey.  "I  can't  talk  and  paddle,"  he  said, 
and  sent  the  canoe  gliding  under  the  boughs  of  a 
spreading  cedar. 

Then  he  laid  his  paddle  across  his  knees,  and, 
leaning  over  it  with  his  chin  propped  in  his  hands, 
he  addressed  her  seriously: 

"You  see,  Hil  dear,  there's  only  one  thing  to  con- 
sider: either  it's  your  duty  or  it's  not  your  duty. 
That's  the  way  I've  been  brought  up  to  look  at  things. 
Now  I  don't  want  to  make  any  special  claim  on  you, 
Hil,  but  it's  plain  that  I'm  a  human  being,  a  fellow- 
being,  in  a  most  awful  hole.  And  there's  your  friend 
Sophy — she's  in  a  hole  too." 

He  paused,  and  she  nodded. 

"Now  see  what  you  can  do  by  just  marrying  me 
this  morning — and  I've  arranged  everything.  It 

231 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

was  absolutely  nothing  but  to  fill  out  a  paper — names, 
ages,  occupation,  and  so  forth — which  I've  got  with 
me.  The  clerk  will  do  all  the  rest — fellow  called  a 
recorder;  won't  take  ten  minutes  once  we're  there." 
At  this  he  looked  a  little  anxiously  at  his  watch.  "See 
what  you  can  do,  Hil.  You  can  make  this  ridiculous 
marriage  between  me  and  Sophia  Sternburg-Hofstein 
impossible,  and  so  save  two  lives  from  shipwrecking 
each  other."  Some  of  these  expressions  Alfred  had 
not  improbably  thought  of  beforehand.  "Two  lives, 
Hilary.  You  put  everything  on  the  rails  again  for 
Colorado,  because  as  a  married  man  they  wouldn't 
have  any  particular  use  for  me  at  home  and  there 
wouldn't  be  half  so  much  opposition  to  my  coming 
back;  and  in  the  long  run  everything  would  come  per- 
fectly right.  Don't  you  see  that  it  would  ?  And,  Hil, 
dear,  I  don't  mind  telling  you  I've  depended  on  you 
in  this.  I  don't  see,"  he  added  finally,  "how  you  can 
get  out  of  it." 

Hilary  listened  gravely.  Somewhere  in  the  back 
of  her  mind  laughter  was  stirring,  but  all  that 
her  heart  would  allow  her  was  a  tender  little  smile. 

"It  can't  be  my  duty  to  make  it  impossible  for  you 
to  do  yours,"  she  said. 

He  threw  up  his  head,  galled  in  an  old  place. 
"Well — if  you  take  that  line — if  you  agree — but 
you  don't,  you  can't,  over  here !  That  was  the  very 
thing  I  counted  on  to  make  you  do  it." 

232 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Was  it,  Alfred?" 

He  had  hunched  his  knees  under  his  chin  and  was 
looking  at  her  over  them,  suddenly  forlorn,  dismayed. 
Something  that  was  there  before,  something  eager 
and  sure,  had  died  out  of  his  face.  She  saw  it  die 
and  it  hurt  her.  His  happy  confidence  had  faded; 
she  would  not  join  hands  with  him  in  this  enterprise. 
If  it  had  only  been  something — something  reasonable 
— that  she  could  do  for  him ! 

"You  see,  Hil,  darling,  I'm  only  asking  you  to  do 
this  provisionally,  you  know;  I  mean,  as  a  provision 
— only  to  give  me  a  claim  to  you.  Later,  when  I 
can  afford  to  marry,  we  can  have  it  all  done  properly, 
with  the  parson  and  bridesmaids  and  everything  else 
you  can  name.  And  I  don't  mind  telling  you  that  I'm 
surprised  that  you  don't  see  it,  not  only  as  a  duty,  but 
as  a  very  plain  duty.  You  oughtn't  to  put  self  first 
in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  Hilary — you  oughtn't  in- 
deed." 

"Alfred,"  she  told  him  reproachfully,  "if  anyone 
else  had  said  that  I  should  find  it  funny." 

"He  looked  a  little  hurt.  "It  isn't  as  if  you  dis- 
liked me,  Hil." 

Oh,  her  Prince — her  Prince !  It  was  not,  indeed. 
She  looked  at  him  with  wide,  tearful  eyes,  and  her 
graver  grounds  for  opposing  him  melted  away  before 
her  sudden  demand  that  he  should  ask  this  thing  of 
her  in  another  fashion. 

233 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Alfred!"  she  half  sobbed.  "You— you  tell  me 
it's  my  duty.  But  why  should  I  marry  any  more 
than — you — for  such  a  reason  as  that?" 

Their  eyes  met  over  this  posing  question  and  clung 
together. 

"But  don't  you  love  me?"  he  asked  again.  She 
did  not  reply,  and  he  got  up  carefully  in  his  place 
holding  by  a  low  branch  of  the  cedar. 

"Hil,  I  am  going  to  kiss  you,"  he  said. 

It  was  not  an  easy  thing  to  do  from  the  bottom 
of  the  canoe  at  her  feet,  but  he  did  it — and  not  once 
only.  Far  from  repelling  him  Hilary  stroked  his 
hair. 

"You  love  me  and  yet  you  won't  marry  me,"  he 
argued  with  that  advantage. 

"But  you  don't  seem  to  expect  anything  like — that 
— to — to — to  influence  me,"  she  expostulated. 

"It  was  my  reason,"  he  told  her,  "of  course.  But 
I  thought  you  would  prefer  duty.  One  ought,  you 
know.  Please,  Hil,  darling,  may  I  kiss  your  eyes?" 

"We  shall  upset!"  she  cried,  but  they  did  not  up- 
set. He  scrambled  dutifully  and  successfully  back  to 
his  place  and  took  up  his  paddle.  Now  may  we  go  to 
Cascade?"  he  asked,  as  one  who,  not  without  some 
trouble,  has  made  his  point. 

But  Hilary  shook  her  head. 

"I  would  just  love  to,"  she  said,  "but  I — I  daren't, 
Alfred.  Not  for  myself.  I'm  not  afraid,  even  of 

234 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

dungeons !  But  it's  the  undreamed-of  harm  I  might 
be  doing  you." 

"Harm!"  he  cried.  "Little  you  know!  I  won't 
discuss  that,  Hilary." 

She  brought  the  great  reason  out  with  curious  shy- 
ness. 

"You  know  who  you  are,"  she  said.  There  was  an 
instant  of  almost  religious  silence,  and  then  he  leaned 
forward  earnestly. 

"Hil,  you,  too,  have  known  great  position,  great 
people,  great  ways  of  doing.  Perhaps,  to  those  who 
like  that  sort  of  thing,  it's  worth  a  good  deal.  But 
is  it  worth  everything?  I'm  not  much  of  a  chap, 
but  you  happen  to  like  me.  Now  if  you  could  go  to 
a  Colorado  ranch  with  me,  or  back  to  the  White 
House  in  Washington  without  me,  which  would  you 
choose?" 

"You  against  an  Empire,"  she  cried,  smiling 
through  her  wet  lashes. 

He  dipped  his  paddle  triumphantly. 

"I  knew  it.    Now,  may  we  go  to  Cascade?" 

"No,  Alfred— no!" 

"Hil — can  you  honorably — throw  me  over,  re- 
membering I've  depended  on  you?" 

Throw  him  over ! 

For  another  long  moment  she  hesitated.  She  sat 
looking  at  him,  bright-eyed,  her  elbows  on  her  knees, 
her  face  on  her  clasped  hands,  and  twenty  questions 

235 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

trembling  on  her  lips.  Then  she  looked  out  upon 
the  sunlit  water  and  laughed,  and  threw  all  away. 
He  had  depended  on  her !  "Yes !"  she  said  gloriously 
to  fate — and  to  Alfred:  "No,  I  can't.  No,  I  won't. 
Yes,  let  us  go  to  Cascade." 

And  they  went.  The  sun  shone  on  them  all  the 
way,  and  there  was  a  following  breeze  to  help  the 
paddle  that  never  wearied. 

They  found  the  rheumatic  old  recorder  in  the  act 
of  making  the  first  fire  of  the  season  in  a  box  stove 
of  ancient  pattern,  and  his  mind  much  occupied  with 
the  grievance  that  his  supply  of  logs  had  been  cut 
too  long.  He  kept  them  waiting  while  he  showed 
them  how  the  logs  smoked  at  one  end  and  stuck  out 
through  the  door  at  the  other. 

Then  he  married  them  under  the  Statute  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  putting  on  his  spectacles  to  ex- 
amine the  license.  The  bridegroom's  declaration 
had  been  easy.  He  was  Alfred  Wettin,  and  his 
father  was  John  Wettin.  He  was  born  in  Lon- 
don, England,  and  his  occupation  was  "prospective 
settler." 

Hilary,  over  "residence,"  was  uncertain;  Alfred 
had  filled  in  "Baltimore,  Ohio,"  where  he  knew  she 
was  born.  "We  live  in  so  many  places,"  she  de- 
murred. 

"Whar  does  your  pa  pay  taxes?"  asked  the  recorder 
with  his  eye  on  the  stove. 

236 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Oh — in  Baltimore,  Ohio,"  she  said,  so  that  "resi- 
dence" remained. 

"You've  come  a  long  way  to  get  married,"  the 
recorder  told  her,  using  the  blotter  with  his  palsied 
hand,  but  he  did  not  know  how  far,  the  old  man. 

"I  sa^"  said  Alfred  to  his  wife  when  the  brief  mat- 
ter was  concluded;  "do  you  mind  waiting  while 
I  make  his  fire  burn?" 

So  she  did,  taking  a  very  humble  chair  for  a 
Princess,  and  Alfred  applied  himself  to  the  box  stove 
until  it  roared. 

It  was  not  perhaps  a  bad  beginning,  the  tending 
of  another's  fire.  Hilary  watched  it  with  happy  eyes. 
"Oh/  Alfred,"  she  said  as  they  went  down  the 
steps  to  the  sidewalk,  thick  with  autumn  leaves,  "I'm 
not  sorry — I'm  not  sorry!  You're  a  very  human 
being!" 

They  bought  crackers  and  cheese  at  a  grocer's 
shop,  and  left  their  certified  license  with  the  town 
clerk,  and  made  all  haste  back.  But  the  sun  was  low 
when  they  started,  and  the  long  lanes  among  the 
pines  and  the  maples  were  already  misty  and  purple. 
They  made  all  haste,  and  Hilary  took  a  paddle  too; 
but  evening  had  descended  before  he  left  her  at  her 
father's  door,  and  would  not  come  in  to  supper, 
though  she  shyly  asked  him  to. 

"No,"  he  said,  "we've  only  taken  a  precaution, 
Hil;  you  mustn't  let  me  forget  that.  I'm  quite  as 

237 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

happy  as  I  need  be  for  a  while.  If  I  came  in,  you 
see,  I  might  be  too  happy  to  go  away." 

"Good  night,  then,"  she  said  quickly,  and  gave  him 
her  cheek  to  kiss, 

But  self-denial  has  its  limits,  and  he  kissed  her 
at  his  own  pleasure.  "Good  night,  my  wife.  It  was 
splendid  of  you,  Hil.  I'll  see  your  father  to-morrow," 
he  said.  "Let  me  tell  him.  Dear  old  Youghall  will 
be  there  when  I  get  back.  He  must  know,  too.  I 
want  him  to  help  me — later." 

"Yes,"  said  Hilary.  "Oh,  yes.  You  shall  tell  him. 
But  nobody  else,  Alfred.  Nobody  else  in  the  whole 
world,  until  I  consent.  You  promise?" 

He  promised  once  again  and  then  he  went. 

Hilary  stood  in  the  door  and  watched  him  go.  A 
lantern  tied  to  a  stake  at  the  landing-place  shone  upon 
him  and  his  canoe  for  a  moment;  and  with  one 
backward  wave  at  her,  he  shot  out  over  the  dark 
glass  of  the  lake.  She  went  in,  then,  and  looked 
at  the  clock,  and  found  that  the  memorable  hour 
was  six.  He  had  gone  away,  into  the  future,  at 
six. 

That  line  of  the  clock  hands,  cutting  time  and  the 
world  in  two,  was  always  to  stay  with  her.  It  was 
her  first  moment  of  escape  from  the  magic  of  their 
adventure.  She  sat  down  in  it  to  try,  as  she  told 
herself,  to  "realize"  what  she  had  been  led  to  do ;  but 
the  only  thing  she  quite  realized  was  the  wish  that 

238 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

her  father  was  there.  After  a  while  she  went  out  and 
sat  in  the  warm,  bright  kitchen  with  Bertha.  .  .  . 

And  he,  her  Prince,  made  good  way  to  the  por- 
tage where  Abe  was  waiting,  and  hailed  Abe  cheerily. 
Riley  wasn't  back  from  Moose  Lick  with  his  pas- 
senger when  Abe  left;  he  would  be  by  now. 

As  Abe  paddled  in,  Alfred  saw  the  solitary  figure 
of  Youghall  in  the  light  of  his  own  window,  pacing 
and  waiting. 

He  leaped  from  the  canoe,  shouting  greetings. 
"My  dear  old  chap,  this  is  top  hole !  Absolutely  rip- 
ping !  Bumped  you  to  pieces,  I  expect,  getting  here ; 
the  road's  in  a  shocking  state.  It's  good  to  see  you, 
old  man;  no  end  lucky  you  could  cornel" 

"Naturally  I  could  come,"  said  Youghall,  half 
stopping  to  look  at  him.  "But  what — what  have 
they  done  to  you  over  here?  You're  not  the  same 
man." 

"Another  chap — yes,  aren't  I?"  Alfred  responded 
joyously.  'I  tell  you,  Youghall,  Morrow's  some 
doctor." 

"You've  even  learned  American,"  gasped  Youg- 
hall. 

"Have  I?  Well,  that's  all  right."  With  his  hand 
under  his  friend's  elbow,  Alfred  had  been  hurrying 
him  toward  his  own  quarters.  Almost  pushing  him 
in,  he  shut  the  door  and  faced  gloriously  round  upon 
him. 

239 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Congratulate  me,  Youghall.  I've  just  married 
Hilary  Lanchester." 

Youghall  sat  down  upon  the  first  thing  that  was 
convenient.  "You've  just — married — a  girl,"  he  re- 
peated slowly. 

"No;  not  any  old  girl.  I've  just  married  Hilary 
Lanchester." 

"I— I  see,"  said  Youghall. 

"Congratulate  me,  old  chap,"  insisted  Alfred,  slap- 
ping him  on  the  shoulder. 

"Oh,  I  do — I  do  congratulate  you,"  said  Youghall 
hastily.  "She  seemed — everything  that  could  be  de- 
sired. But — dear  man,  how  will  you  ever  bring  it 
off?" 

"I  have  brought  it  off,"  Prince  Alfred  told  him. 
"If  you  had  been  a  bit  earlier  you  might  have  been 
best  man." 

He  sat,  flushed  and  triumphant,  on  the  edge  of  his 
writing-table  and  twisted  his  legs  under  it.  Youg- 
hall got  up  and  looked  as  if  he  would  never  sit  again. 
He  folded  his  arms  against  the  astonishing  news  and 
stood  looking  at  the  floor. 

"The  girl  I  took  the  button  to,"  he  said,  not  with- 
out a  feeling  of  complicity. 

"Yes;  old  man;  you  did  me  a  good  turn  that  time. 
I  don't  mind  telling  you  that  I've  found  out  she's 
worn  it  ever  since,"  he  added  shyly.  "Oh,  Youg- 
hall, she's — she's  glorious!" 

240 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"The  daughter  of  the  ex-President!" 

"You'll  identify  her  after  a  while,"  laughed  Al- 
fred. "Look  here,  Youghall,  let  me  give  you  a  piece 
of  advice.  Marry  the  girl  you're  in  love  with,  and 
nobody  else!  Make  a  point  of  it,"  he  added  joy- 
ously. 

"Thanks  very  much,"  said  Youghall  absently,  "I 
will — if  occasion  arises.  But  that  has  nothing" — his 
eyes  wandered  in  their  consternation  to  the  table. 
"Telegrams,"  he  said. 

There  were  several  rather  thick  ones  marked  "For- 
eign," placed  neatly  one  on  top  of  the  other.  More 
than  one  was  addressed  to  Colonel  Vandeleur. 

"They  can  wait,"  Alfred  told  him,  vaulting  further 
back.  "I've  got  something  more  interesting  to  think 
about.  And,  Youghall,  here's  the  rest  of  it:  I  go 
home  next  week  to  satisfy  them  about  some  silly 
obligation  or  other;  then  I  come  back  by  Morrow's 
orders  to  winter  here;  and  after  that  he's  going  to 
send  me  to  ranch  in  Colorado,  old  man — to  ranch  in 
Colorado !  That's  where  Hilary  comes  in — the 
darling!" 

He  was  swinging  his  legs  now  in  the  joy  of  that 
anticipated  freedom,  and,  having  got  it  all  out,  he 
had  taken  up  one  of  the  telegrams  while  Youghall 
stared  at  the  floor.  "Perhaps  there's  somebody  wait- 
ing," Alfred  said,  and  tore  off  the  end. 

It  was  a  long  telegram.     Alfred  read  a  line  of 

241 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

two,  threw  himself  off  the  table,  and  walked  over 
to  the  lamp.  There  with  a  face  that  grew  more  and 
more  changed  and  charged  he  finished  it. 

"Youghall,"  he  said,  "I'm  glad  you're  here.  The 
Victoria  went  down  this  morning  in  a  squall,  and 
both  my  brothers — were  on  board.  Every  soul  was 
lost.  You  might — open  the  other  telegrams,  Youg- 
hall." 

It  was  like  Youghall  that  he  fell  upon  the  messages 
with  a  sound.  One  was  full  of  details ;  another,  from 
the  Embassy  at  Washington,  stated  what  Prince  Al- 
fred should  immediately  do.  There  was  a  message 
conveying  sympathy  from  the  Prime  Minister.  None 
had  any  word  of  mitigation  or  relief.  Youghall  read 
them  through  heavily  aloud. 

Prince  Alfred  sat  huddled  in  an  armchair  and 
heard.  Once  or  twice  he  said,  "Read  that  again,  will 
you?"  Then  he  put  his  hands  over  his  eyes.  "Old 
John!"  he  said.  "Old  Vic!  Hard  luck  on  those 
two!" 

Youghall  had  turned  his  back  and  was  looking  out 
into  the  night.  Presently  he  came  again,  as  it  were, 
into  the  room.  He  walked  with  an  awkward  air  of 
ceremony  into  the  middle  of  it. 

"Brace  up,  old  man,"  he  said,  with  the  tears  run- 
ning down  his  face.  "You  know  what  this  means. 
I've  got  to  say  it:  'Long  live  the  King!' ' 

"I  suppose  you've  got  to  say  it,"  Alfred  repeated 

242 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

mechanically.  "Vic,  too!"  he  said.  "Vic  would 
have  liked  it.  ...  Both.  .  .  .  I'm  glad  you're  here, 
Youghall,"  he  said  again.  "Morrow's  at  Sumach. 
Will  you  go  over  and  tell  Vandeleur?  Come  back 
after — a  little.  I  must  think  a  bit." 

At  the  door  a  consideration  struck  the  King's  mes- 
senger with  the  force  of  a  bullet.  He  wheeled 
around.  "And  you've  married  Hilary  Lanchester!" 
he  almost  shouted. 

Alfred  lifted  his  head.  "There  is  that,"  he  said. 
"I'm  glad  to  remember  that.  Thank  God  I  did  it  in 
time!" 


CHAPTER    XXV 

YOU  English  are  the  most  impossible  people 
on  the  face  of  the  globe  to  take  for  granted," 
said  Abraham  Longworth  after  dinner  at 
Clinton  Manners's  club  in  London,  to  his  host  and 
Youghall  and  the  other  man  who  was  dining  there. 
"You  chop  off  a  King's  head  for  interfering  in  poli- 
tics, and  for  four  hundred  years  you  say  no  fellow 
that  wears  the  crown  of  England  must  know  that 
politics  exist,  because,  if  he  did,  it  might  happen 
again.  Then  a  fellow  like  Alfred  comes  along  and 
says,  Til  be  King;  but  I  want  a  man's  job  as  well,' 
and  you're  all  as  pleased  as  Punch." 

"It's  extraordinarily  queer  that  labor,  of  all  things 
in  the  world,  should  have  given  the  King  his  chance," 
said  the  other  man;  "The  last  thing  you'd  expect." 
"That's  what  I  say:  it  always  is,  in  these  islands, 
the  last  thing  you'd  expect,"  declared  Longworth. 
"What  I  want  to  know  is  how  King  Alfred  got  into 
this  close  touch — I  don't  say  with  labor  union  mem- 
bers, but  with  the  unions  themselves.  Not  half  an 
easy  thing  to  negotiate." 

244 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Oh,  it's  all  very  informal,"  Youghall  told  him; 
"but  it  hangs  together  somehow.  There's  the  sport- 
ing instinct  of  the  workingmen,  and  the  kingship  of 
the  King,  and  his  known  keenness  on  all  that  these 
fellows  in  the  mills  and  arsenals  have  to  do " 

Youghall  spoke  with  a  slow  Canadian  drawl.  He 
was  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  War  now,  but  he 
had  never  lost  the  drawl.  It  was  wonderful  climbing 
for  a  man  of  thirty-one,  but  the  New  Party  still  eyed 
him  with  confidence  rather  than  with  criticism.  Man- 
ners was  private  secretary  to  Lord  Farwell,  Post- 
master-General. Longworth  had  returned  from  Bos- 
ton, settled  down  in  England  and  entered  the  House 
of  Commons  the  year  after  Youghall.  He,  too,  be- 
longed to  the  New  Party,  which  had  been  called  into 
existence  chiefly  by  the  menace  of  the  industrial  situ- 
ation. These  three  had  been  friends  at  Oxford.  The 
fourth  man  was  Sir  Nicholas  Henry,  a  baronet,  a 
mine  owner  and  more  of  a  veteran  than  the  others. 

"I've  heard  the  King  picked  up  a  lot  of  notions 
that  time  he  was  in  the  States,"  Manners  remarked 
casually.  It  was  five  years  and  more  since  the  Amer- 
ican visit  and  its  tragic  close. 

"Maybe,"  Youghall  half  admitted.  "Sir  Charles 
Kitson  had  a  good  deal  to  say  to  it  in  the  beginning. 
He  saw  the  chance  and  saved  his  own  company.  He 
knew  the  men  wouldn't  rat  once  the  King  had  got 
their  word.  Then  it  became  fashionable." 

245 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"And  now  there  isn't  a  union  meeting  in  the  north 
that  isn't  conducted  under  his  portrait,"  Manners 
said.  "Do  you  remember  at  Oxford,  Youghall, 
how  he  used  to  swot  at  mending  his  own  bicycle?" 

Youghall  smiled.  For  so  young  a  man  he  was  un- 
communicative, as  a  rule,  but  to-night  they  were  all 
there  together  more  intimately  than  had  happened 
since  the  Oxford  days.  Sir  Nicholas  was  a  good  fel- 
low too.  "I  knew  how  it  would  be,"  Youghall  said. 
"I  came  over  with  him,  you  know,  when  he — had  to 
come." 

"Wasn't  he  in  the  woods  somewhere  when  the 
thing  happened?"  Sir  Nicholas  asked. 

"He  was  in  Quebec  the  next  day,"  said  Youghall. 
"He  sailed  under  the  salute  of  his  own  proclama- 
tion. It  was  a  thundering  thing  for  us  Canadians — 
happening  there,  you  know.  They  knocked  him  to- 
gether some  kind  of  a  Staff  in  Ottawa,  and  I  came 
along  as  a  sort  of  private  secretary  pro  tern.  They 
sent  him  on  the  Canadian  dreadnaught  Iroquois.  It 
was  her  first  commission.  I  remember  our  overtak- 
ing the  Empress  of  the  Seas  off  the  Banks " 

"Why  do  you  remember  that?"  asked  Longworth. 

"Oh,  nothing;  only  the  Princess  Georgina  was  on 
board,  and  I  used  to  think  he'd  just  as  soon  we  did 
overtake  her,"  said  Youghall. 

"Did  he  talk  to  you  much — about  things?"  asked 
Manners. 

246 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"Now  and  then.  He  said  once,"  smiled  Youghall, 
"that  he  had  'as  good  a  right  to  work  as  any  man 
alive.'  I  believe  they've  heard  that  in  the  unions. 
It  doesn't  make  him  unpopular." 

"Why  the  dickens  doesn't  he  marry?"  asked  Long- 
worth. 

"Ah!  that  I  can't  tell  you,"  Youghall  said; 
and,  for  some  minutes  after,  his  close-lipped 
mouth  opened  only  for  the  convenience  of  his 
pipe. 

"Isn't  he  known  as  the  'Hope  of  Europe'  ?"  pres- 
ently asked  Sir  Nicholas. 

"I  hadn't  heard,"  said  Youghall. 

"He  ought  to  marry,"  Longworth  insisted.  "He's 
throwing  away  his  best  card  with  the  populace — the 
photographs  of  the  children.  I  wonder  the  illus- 
trated press  doesn't  get  a  question  asked." 

"It  looks  rather,"  Manners  contributed,  "as  if 
lovely  woman  simply  doesn't  interest  him.  I  hear 
there's  hardly  a  petticoat  about  the  court." 

"There's  the  Princess  Georgina's,"  Sir  Nicholas 
hazarded. 

"As  far  as  that  goes,"  replied  Manners  discreetly, 
"yes.  But  no  petticoats  with  frills;  at  least  so  my 
wife  tells  me."  There  was  a  Lady  Biddy  Manners 
who  had  apparently  been  complaining. 

"Don't  we  hear  of  a  lovely  lady  at  Farnborough?" 
Longworth  inquired.  "I  don't  usually  talk  gossip, 

247 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

but  I  can't  hear  the  poor  fellow  deprived  of  all  natu- 
ral sentiment " 

"There's  nothing  in  that,"  Manners  told  him. 
"She  tries  hard;  that's  all." 

"I  shouldn't  wonder,"  said  Longworth,  "if  he  de- 
manded to  fall  in  love.  He's  a  queer  chap  for  a 
king.  Were  you  here,  Youghall,  for  the  corona- 
tion?" 

"Yes,"  said  Youghall.     "I've  never  been  away." 

"He  made  a  rather  pathetic  figure,  didn't  he? 
Not  a  dry  eye  in  the  Abbey,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing." 

Youghall  took  out  his  pipe  to  reply,  but  anybody 
could  get  in  a  sentence  before  the  words  came  out, 
and  Manners  did. 

"He  was  alone,  of  course,  and  young,  and  not  too 
strong  even  then,"  Manners  said.  "I  felt  sniffy 
myself." 

Sir  Nicholas  Henry  pushed  back  his  chair  to  tip 
it,  dropped  his  cigar  stump  into  his  finger-bowl,  and 
laughed. 

"I  was  in  the  Automobile  Club  in  January  of  last 
year,"  he  said,  "when  Amberley  dropped  in  on  his 
way  back  from  being  told  that  the  King  meant  to 
write  his  speech  from  the  throne  himself.  Amber- 
ley's  face  was  worth  seeing;  he  thought  the  founda- 
tions were  rocking.  I  know  him  very  well — fagged 
for  him  at  Eton — and  he  told  me  what  had  hap- 

248 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

pened.  'With  all  respect  for  the  great  abilities  of 
my  Cabinet,'  says  the  King  to  Amberley,  'I  prefer 
to  express  my  ideas  in  my  own  way.  But  I  shall  be 
delighted  to  give  you  the  opportunity  of  correcting 
the  spelling.'  He  never  could  stand  Amberley;  al- 
ways hated  having  to  send  for  him.  I  never  saw  the 
old  man  so  hot.  'We'll  correct  more  than  the  spell- 
ing,' he  said — to  me  of  course,  not  to  the  King.  But 
I  don't  know  that  they  did." 

"It  was  a  rattling  good  speech,"  said  Longworth; 
"quite  prudent,  but  as  personal  as  a  message  to 
Congress." 

"It's  just  as  well  the  Liberals  went  out  when  they 
did."  Manners  turned  to  Sir  Nicholas.  "He  gets 
on  much  better  with  Caversham.  Caversham  ap- 
plauds our  impulsive  Monarch  and  plays  him  like 
any  other  card.  More  than  once  I've  heard  him 
say :  'I  want  to  carry  the  King  with  us.' ' 

"I  believe,"  Sir  Nicholas  remarked,  neatly  remov- 
ing the  tip  of  his  second  cigar,  "that  Caversham  en- 
couraged him  in  that  notion  of  sending  for  ministers 
two  or  three  at  a  time  to  discuss  things." 

"He  told  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,"  said 
Manners — "Have  a  light,  Henry? — that  he  wanted 
to  understand  the  bills  he's  got  to  sign.  'What  in 
the  name  of  the  constitution  does  he  want  to  under- 
stand 'em  for?'  Naseby  said  to  my  chief.  'That's 
our  business.'  But  he  could  make  no  objection,  of 

249 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

course.  And  now  the  Cabinet  meets  at  Buckingham 
Palace  rather  oftener  than  in  Downing  Street.  Does 
business  too.  Seems  to  work  well  enough." 

"It  would,"  remarked  Longworth  sardonically, 
"in  this  country  where  every  known  sign  and  prece- 
dent's against  it." 

"Well,  if  it  pleases  him,"  said  Manners,  "it's  not 
dangerous,  so  long  as  he  consents  to  take  only  a  for- 
mal part."  He  looked  around  as  if  challenging 
objection,  but  none  came. 

Longworth  ever  so  slightly  shook  his  head.  They 
sat  silent  for  a  moment,  thinking  of  the  King.  They 
were  all  four  his  trusty  lieutenants,  and  in  spite  of 
the  spread  of  socialism,  the  country  was  full  of  just 
such  lieutenants  as  these.  There  was  a  widespread 
cult  of  the  King.  Men  liked  what  they  knew  of 
him ;  women  could  never  know  enough. 

"So  long — yes,"  said  Longworth  finally.  "But 
there's  something  heady  about  the  King." 

"Let's  hope  he'll  keep  it,"  joked  Sir  Nicholas. 
"By  the  way,  he'll  be  disappointed  at  the  news  from 
Washington." 

"Treaty  scotched?"  asked  Manners,  "I  haven't 
seen  the  evening  papers." 

"Gutted  with  amendments  in  the  usual  style. 
Very  disappointing,  but  I  was  afraid  of  the  Senate," 
said  the  older  man.  "The  President  takes  it  badly, 
they  say." 

250 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Don't  believe  all  that,"  Longworth  advised  them. 
"President  Dickinson  was  never  half  so  hot  for  it  as 
he  got  credit  for  being  on  this  side;  too  near  the 
end  of  his  term.  He'd  like  it,  all  right,  but  he  knows 
as  well  as  anybody  that  it  isn't  a  practicable  move 
just  now.  A  treaty  of  arbitration  and  alliance  is  the 
last  thing  any  President  of  the  United  States  would 
want  to  leave  in  the  pot  just  as  he's  going  out  of 
office.  They  may  be  turning  the  lights  on  a  grand 
lodge  of  sorrow  at  the  White  House  this  afternoon, 
but  Dickinson's  quite  pleased  to  pickle  that  cucumber 
for  the  next  fellow — and  he's  wise." 

"Then  it  can't  come  up  again  before  the  election," 
said  Manners. 

"It  could,  but  it  won't,"  Longworth  said. 

The  last  sleepy  waiter  had  disappeared  behind  the 
screen.  The  fire,  long  burning  for  them  alone,  had 
dropped  low ;  and  through  the  window  came  a  stroke 
of  Big  Ben. 

Longworth  looked  at  his  watch.  "Time  for  my 
bye-bye,"  he  told  them.  "You  fellows  going  back 
to  the  House  to-night?" 

"I  am,"  said  Youghall. 

"Faithful  hound!"  Longworth  thrust  his  arm 
affectionately  under  Youghall's  as  they  made  their 
way  to  the  cloakroom. 

The  two  were  close  friends,  with  a  common  pol- 
icy and  a  point  of  view  from  which  they  looked  in 

251 


'HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

the  same  direction  and  saw  the  same  things.  The 
American  was  a  leader  among  the  younger  spirits  of 
his  party,  yet  had  already  earned  the  nickname  of 
"Commonsense  Longworth,"  because  he  made  such 
constant  appeal  to  that  quality. 

As  they  went  down  the  steps  together  Youghall 
said:  "Who's  going  to  be  the  next  fellow  over  there, 
Lengthy?" 

"Do  you  mean  which  party  will  win  at  the  polls?" 

"Which  man  will  win,  out  of  the  present  lot  of 
likely  candidates?" 

"I  should  say — out  of  the  present  lot  of  likely 
candidates — nobody,"  said  Longworth.  "This  is 
March.  From  now  till  September  is  the  time  of  fall- 
ing stars.  The  fellow  who  wants  to  know  the  planet 
that  will  stay  must  wait.  Can  I  drop  you?"  He 
had  hailed  a  taxi. 

"Thanks.  I'll  walk,"  Youghall  said.  "I  like  this 
clean,  wet  wind." 

He  turned  westward  along  Pall  Mall,  still  alive 
and  moving  with  the  gleaming,  rainy  lights  of  the 
spring  night,  though  pedestrians  were  few.  At  the 
first  pillar  box  he  stopped,  unbuttoned  his  coat  and 
took  a  rather  bulky  letter  out  of  the  inside  pocket 
of  his  dress  coat.  There,  since  he  bestowed  it  when 
he  left  his  rooms  to  dine  with  Manners,  it  had 
made  more  of  a  bulge  than  his  tailor  would  have 
approved. 

252 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

The  letter  was  addressed  in  his  own  handwriting 
to  "Miss  Hilary  Lanchester,"  at  her  father's  house 
in  Baltimore,  Ohio.  It  was  bulky  because  it  con- 
tained another,  superscribed  to  "The  Hon.  Mr.  Ar- 
thur Youghall"  at  his  address  in  Whitehall  Court, 
in  the  handwriting  of  his  Sovereign. 

Once  every  fortnight  and  no  oftener  the  Unaer 
Secretary  of  State  for  War  received  such  a  missive; 
and  always,  without  further  examination,  he  inclosed 
it  in  another  envelope  and  addressed  it  to  Miss 
Hilary  Lanchester,  at  her  father's  house  in  Balti- 
more, Ohio,  or  wherever  she  happened  to  be.  He 
had  now  been  doing  this  for  a  period  of  a  little  more 
than  five  years. 

Five  years  had  gone — years  full  of  storm  and 
trouble  and  change  in  Washington  no  less  than  in 
Westminster.  Tides  of  industrial  unrest  had  beaten, 
and  lashed  and  been  calmed  only  to  rise  again.  Sec- 
tional interests  had  threatened  the  validity  of  Amer- 
ican foreign  relations  and  even  the  integrity  of  the 
Union. 

Under  it  all  a  short  record  slept  in  the  books  of 
the  clerk  of  the  town  of  Cascade,  in  the  Algonquin 
Division  of  the  state  of  New  York,  which,  if  the 
world  had  known  anything  about  it,  might  have 
added  a  good  deal  to  the  confusion  of  the  time.  But 
it  slept  undisturbed;  the  world  knew  nothing.  Spring 
after  spring  the  horse  chestnuts  along  the  sidewalk 

253 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

shook  out  their  leaves,  and  the  pomp  of  summer 
passed,  and  the  snow  fell  upon  the  roof  and  steps 
of  the  town  hall ;  and  the  entry  receded  farther  and 
farther  into  files  little  likely  to  be  sought  or  searched. 
The  old  recorder  was  dead;  and  the  new  appointee, 
a  bustling  fellow  from  a  local  newspaper,  had  no 
spectacles  for  the  past.  He  bustled  till  he  made  the 
taxpayers  put  in  a  furnace.  So  even  the  old  box 
stove  was  gone. 

The  thought  of  crying  the  record  from  the  house- 
tops did  persistently  visit  the  mind  of  the  chief  of  the 
three  who  knew  of  it.  But  Arthur  Youghall,  who, 
as  we  are  aware,  was  close  to  Alfred  during  the 
whole  of  the  ten  days  that  lay  between  him  and  the 
great  memorial  service  in  Westminster  Abbey  for  the 
King  and  the  Prince,  whose  bodies  were  never  found, 
had  frequent  opportunity  to  convince  the  young  King 
of  the  impossibility  of  such  a  course.  The  argu- 
ments that  Youghall  used  will  leap  into  every  mind 
and  need  not  be  told.  They  were  overwhelming. 
Above  them  all  stood  guard  Alfred's  promise  to 
Hilary;  that  alone  sealed  his  lips.  And  presently 
the  high  rites  and  solemn  duties  of  his  return  began 
to  multiply  over  the  act  of  that  October  morning 
like  the  clods  that  fall  upon  a  coffin. 

The  record  was  in  the  coffin,  only  the  record ;  but 
by  the  day  of  his  coronation  it  lay  in  a  grave  that 
was  filled.  When  he  thought  of  it,  it  was  to  remem- 

254 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

her  how  safe  things  are  in  a  grave  and  to  smile  with 
the  knowledge  that  he  had  a  wrife  alive  in  the  sun — 
to  be  his  one  day  when  they  could  see  their  way,  when 
he  should  prevail —  And  soon  after,  they  would 
make  a  splendid,  formal,  trumpeted  visit  to  the 
United  States,  and  among  the  places  of  interest  they 
would  most  surely  see  would  be  an  old  castle  in  the 
air  that  hovered  over  the  ranches  of  Colorado.  .  .  ^ 

And  Hilary,  from  the  moment  that  wonderful 
mantle  of  silence  fell  upon  her  with  Alfred's  letter 
the  morning  after,  moved  in  it  like  a  young  abbess, 
and  kept  it  unbroken  by  a  whisper — even  to  her 
father.  For  that  she  had  authority;  often  to  her- 
self she  cited  it,  'Let  me  tell  him.'  It  was  the  last 
thing  her  Prince  had  said.  Alfred  should  tell  her 
father  when  her  father  should  be  told,  not  she. 

But  she  could  not  let  it  be  yet;  she  wrote  and 
begged  that  it  should  not  be  yet.  A  kind  of  fear,  and 
the  commotion  that  rose  in  her  breast  at  the  thought 
of  such  a  tale  to  him,  forbade  that  Lanchester  should 
know,  pushed  the  telling  away  until  something  should 
happen  to  make  it  necessary — or  harmless. 

What  could  happen?  Well,  she  might  die.  She 
had  dreamt  sometimes  of  dying  and  the  world  dis- 
covering then  that  she  had  been  a  queen  under  the 
statutes  of  the  state  of  New  York.  As  time  went 
on,  her  dying  seemed  the  only  simple  or  probable 
solution  of  their  strange  dilemma.  She  began  in 

255 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

perfect  health  and  very  fair  spirits,  to  imagine  that 
she  looked  forward  to  it.  But  it  was  always,  by 
some  ingenious  arrangement  of  circumstances,  in  Al- 
fred's arms  that  she  died. 

Greater  than  the  temptation  to  tell  her  father — 
which  indeed  was  no  temptation,  so  clothed  was  it 
with  terrible  possibilities  of  wider  disclosure — was 
the  temptation  to  tell  Mrs.  Phipps.  The  October 
days  in  the  woods  grew  intolerably  isolated  and  re- 
mote after  that  sudden  chasm  had  opened  in  her  pri- 
vate life,  and  before  Alfred  had  landed  in  England 
Hilary  was  again  with  her  beloved  friends  in  Wash- 
ington. After  that  first  romantic  burst  of  confidence 
in  June  she  had  barely  mentioned  Alfred's  name  to 
the  dear  lady  of  the  White  House.  Perhaps  as  the 
matter  grew  in  her  bosom  it  became  less  of  a  feather- 
weight to  be  tossed  about  in  a  letter.  Even  when 
the  Prince  began  to  see  them  often  at  Old  Loon 
Lake  she  had  spoken  of  him  only  as  fishing  with 
her  father.  Her  letters  held  him  at  a  distance. 

Mrs.  Phipps,  for  her  own  peace  of  mind,  let  her- 
self be  deceived  until  her  girl  came  back  to  her  in 
the  autumn.  Then  with  an  outward  gaiety  that 
noticed  nothing  she  soon  mourned  in  private,  for 
she  thought  she  had  learned  enough  to  tell  her  that 
Hilary  was  hopelessly  in  love  with  the  young  man 
who  had  already  opened  Parliament  at  Westminster 
in  his  own  person  as  King  of  England. 

256 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Happily  Hilary  would  sometimes  make  a  jest  of  it. 

"Honey,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps  to  her  one  morning 
among  chiffons,  "I  am  going  to  marry  you  this  win- 
ter." The  implication  was  that  Mrs.  Phipps  could 
wait  no  longer  to  choose  the  trousseau. 

"Not  this  winter,  please,"  Hilary  laughed.  "Give 
me  a  little  longer,  darling,  for  my  mourning." 

It  was  a  note  that  sweetly  mocked;  there  was  no 
trouble  in  it.  Mrs.  Phipps  was  puzzled.  "Can  there 
be  anything  like  a  flirtation  still?"  she  thought. 

That  was  Mr.  Phipps's  last  year  of  office;  and 
their  girl  stayed  with  the  President  and  his  wife 
longer  than  usual,  to  their  great  satisfaction.  Hilary 
clung  to  the  White  House.  She  had  the  newspapers 
for  information  and  her  letters  for  more  intimate 
support ;  but  there  was  something  in  the  wide  stair- 
cases and  spacious  rooms  of  this  house  which  had 
once  been  her  father's  that  also  upheld  her  in  those 
first  few  months.  Unconsciously  she  sheltered  in  its 
great  moral  distinction;  its  walls  rose  about  her  a 
monument  greatly  achieved  and  splendidly  assured. 
It  was  the  only  place  from  which  she  could  look  with 
any  equanimity  across  the  Atlantic,  and  she  liked  to 
date  her  letters  from  it. 

A  mysterious  agency  dropped  quantities  of  Lon- 
don papers  and  magazines  into  her  lap.  She  had  to 
implore  it  to  stop;  the  very  postman  was  amazed. 
After  the  first  numbers  of  the  Court  Journal,  which 

257 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

looked  so  odd  in  her  bedroom,  she  had  not  the  cour- 
age to  open  it.  Youghall  wrote  to  her  with  great 
regularity,  copious  letters,  but  all  too  discreet.  She 
had  to  be  satisfied  with  them  every  other  week. 

Alfred  himself  never  failed.  No  fortnight  passed 
without  his  letter;  and  for  long  they  were  full  of 
the  Prince  she  knew.  Simple  and  direct,  accounting 
and  explaining,  thoughtful  and  gently  loving,  she 
discovered  again  in  his  letters  her  Alfred  of  their 
wonderful  romance — and  hopeful  always,  confident, 
and  full  of  plans ;  hopes  and  plans  that  were  a  little 
vague,  based  on  the  democratic  march  of  the  world, 
and  that  still  in  a  year  were  no  more  than  hopes  and 
plans. 

In  a  year  he  grew  restive,  and  it  was  the  day  after 
the  august  ceremonial  of  his  coronation  that  he  first 
wrote  and  begged  her  to  come  to  England.  "I  am 
helpless  here,"  he  wrote.  Perhaps  he  had  not  known 
before  that  anointing  how  helpless.  "The  disposal 
of  our  lives  is  with  you."  Many  of  her  friends 
visited  England  every  summer;  some  of  them  took 
houses  in  town  regularly  for  the  season.  He  could 
see  her  if  she  would  come.  They  could  contrive  to 
meet.  He  argued  and  entreated;  finally  in  affection- 
ate but  set  terms  he  commanded  her  to  come. 

She  had  early  learned  that  without  the  sanction  of 
his  House,  no  English  Prince  may  marry.  She  never 
thought  of  this  as  undoing  that  which  she  herself  had 

258 


'HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

done,  but  it  made  a  kind  of  fairy  tale  of  the  history 
of  that  day.  And  she  kissed  his  letters  and  did  not 
once  dream  of  complying.  The  mere  thought  of  such 
an  enterprise  with  its  phantoms  of  claim  and  surren- 
der shook  her  like  a  leaf;  and  pride  came  in  to  up- 
hold terror.  She  was  her  father's  daughter,  whoever 
else  she  was,  and  that  was  honor  enough.  She  would 
be  nothing  in  secret,  and  she  had  not  the  courage  for 
any  acting  on  that  stage.  She  clung  to  her  father 
sometimes  with  a  timidity  that  touched  and  puzzled 
him. 

So  the  time  passed  with  them  both.  As  soon  as 
his  strength  permitted,  the  young  King-Emperor  was 
prescribed  his  royal  tours.  India  and  the  Dominions 
took  natural  precedence  upon  the  program  of  their 
sovereign;  the  prospect  of  an  American  visit  was 
remote.  Still  he  would  come,  he  told  her — soon  he 
would  come;  and  then  they  would  at  least  sit  upon 
gold  chairs  together  again  and  look  into  one  an- 
other's eyes.  .  .  . 

That  was  after  he  accepted  her  refusal,  and 
stopped  hoping,  as  he  hoped  for  so  long,  that  one 
day  would  show  him  her  face  in  the  crowd  or  the 
carriages  as  he  went  upon  the  formal  duties  of  his 
office.  Often  then  some  curve  of  eyebrow  or  of  lip 
would  send  its  owner  home  boasting,  "He  looked 
straight  at  me  and  smiled."  That  trick  of  searching 
stayed  with  him  long,  but  at  last  he  lost  it.  She 

259 


HTS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

would  not  come;  she  was  afraid  of  the  King,  afraid 
of  herself — afraid. 

He  had  no  great  facility  with  his  pen.  His  let- 
ters never  failed  or  faltered,  but  they  grew  a  little 
gray.  He  described  functions  to  her  and  gave  her 
his  opinion  of  public  men.  Hilary  compared  them 
with  the  published  letters  of  sovereigns,  and  told  her- 
self that  but  for  a  little  bit  at  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  these  too  might  be  printed.  Her  own  grew 
tenderer  with  the  fear  at  her  heart  that  he  was  for- 
getting, but  though  he  forgot  nothing  he  could  not 
respond.  He  had  no  skill  in  phrases.  He  told  her  of 
his  life,  and  he  was  hers,  with  love.  .  .  . 

Time  passed.  In  the  summer  of  the  presidential 
campaign  before  the  Phippses  left  the  White  House, 
Henry  Lanchester  had  a  critical  illness  which  very 
nearly  left  Hilary  alone  in  the  world.  He  rallied 
— in  the  end  splendidly;  but  it  placed  him  for  the 
time  definitely  out  of  the  calculations  of  his  friends 
in  politics.  The  party  put  up  Colonel  Dickinson 
and  elected  him,  a  man  with  a  good  record  and  great 
independence  of  temper,  but  no  tactician;  the  sort 
of  president  who  decides  his  own  future  with  his 
first  message  to  Congress. 

Hilary  went  no  more  to  the  White  House  or  to 
Washington.  She  lived,  as  her  father's  strength  re- 
turned, much  in  New  York,  where  his  business  in- 
terests centered,  and  a  good  deal  among  those  people 

260 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

in  New  York  to  whom  every  wave  that  washes  over 
breaks  in  authentic  gossip  of  the  courts  of  Europe. 
In  the  beginning  the  newspapers  told  her  of  "the 
boy  King."  As  years  went  on,  the  society  weeklies 
chatted  to  her  about  "the  bachelor  King." 

And  the  time  came  when  she  was  to  hear  from 
a  well-informed  friend  at  a  ladies'  luncheon,  choos- 
ing between  a  chocolate  ice  and  a  pink  one,  "She  has 
a  house  near  Windsor  and  they  say  it  is  quite  well 
known.  Of  course  he  must  marry  in  the  end,  and 
personally  I  have  always  believed  that  when  it  had 
to  be  it  would  be  the  Hereditary  Princess  Sophia  of 
Sternburg-Hofstein.  She  is  known  to  have  been 
waiting  for  him  with  a  patience;  though  of  course 
her  mother's  death  and  her  accession,  and  all 
that,  in  the  last  two  years,  have  made  an  ex- 
cuse to  put  it  off,  which  he,  they  say,  has  jumped 
at." 

"Poor  Sophy!"  observed  Hilary,  "I  used  to  know 
her  at  school  in  Brussels.  We  still  exchange  letters 
at  intervals.  Not  pretty,  but  a  dear." 

"Really?  Well,  in  my  opinion  you  are  corre- 
sponding with  the  future  queen  of  England.  The 
— other  isn't  pretty  either;  but  she's  magnificent. 
Quite  worth  staying  single  for,  the  Countess  Waldo- 
gradoff;  and  the  longer  it  lasts  the  better  she'll  be 
pleased,  I  imagine.  They  say  her  influence  is  much 
valued  in  her  own  country " 

261 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Why  doesn't  she  marry  him?"  asked  Hilary  in- 
nocently. 

"Oh,  my  dear  lamb,  she's  no  class  to  marry  roy- 
alty! Besides,  she's  got  a  husband,"  said  Hilary's 
entertaining  informant,  and  she  turned  from  such 
painful  lack  of  sophistication  to  her  other  neighbor. 

"I  see,"  said  Hilary  thoughtfully.  She  did  not 
believe  a  word  of  it — not  a  word,  not  a  word. 


CHAPTER    XXVI 

NO  one  in  the  Court  circle  referred  more  often  to 
King  Alfred's  lonely  state  at  Buckingham 
Palace  than  did  the  Princess  Georgina, 
Duchess  of  Altenburg,  or  in  more  affecting  terms. 
There  seemed  to  her  no  reason  why  a  court  should  not 
also  be  a  home,  or  based  on  one,  and  it  was  known 
among  her  intimates  that  nothing  that  she  could  do  to 
make  it  so  would  be  shirked,  whatever  the  weight  of 
responsibility  involved  to  a  woman  by  no  means  as 
young  as  she  was.  The  Princess  was  the  nearest  and 
most  suitable  of  King  Alfred's  relatives  for  such  re- 
sponsibility— she  had  one  sister,  Princess  Anne,  but 
an  unhappy  marriage  had  sent  that  lady  into  a  High 
Church  sisterhood,  of  which  she  had  for  years  been 
Abbess — and  Buckingham  Palace  contained  many 
suites  of  apartments.  And  the  health  of  the  King 
so  wanted  watching.  The  venerable  pile  in  Kensing- 
ton Gardens  would  also  have  been  much  more  con- 
venient in  many  ways  for  the  young  queen  widow 
than  the  residence  selected;  and  the  Princess  Geor- 
gina, in  spite  of  years  of  the  dearest  associations, 

263 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

would  gladly  have  embraced  the  duty  of  giving  it 
up.  But  she  failed  to  receive  any  hint  that  such  a 
sacrifice  would  be  welcome.  Her  nephew  had  ap- 
parently no  desire  to  turn  his  court  into  a  home  in 
so  far  as  his  Aunt  Georgina's  knitting  would  have 
that  effect.  He  asked  her  support  at  garden-parties 
and  at  race-meetings,  and  her  name  frequently  figured 
among  those  who  had  had  the  honor  of  dining  the 
evening  before  with  His  Majesty  the  King.  When,  so 
pathetically  alone,  he  acknowledged  curtseys  at  his 
drawing-rooms,  her  dignified  gray  presence  was  the 
first  to  bend  before  him ;  and  when  the  Court  gathered 
behind  and  the  debutantes  began  to  flutter  past,  she 
stood  nearer  than  any  other  woman  to  his  bowing 
figure.  But  the  King  jealously  preserved  his  loneli- 
ness, even  in  the  midst  of  his  state-prescribed  entou- 
rage, and  domesticated  nothing  but  his  dog  Tinker 
and  later,  a  kitten  given  him  by  his  friend,  Arthur 
Youghall,  the  Canadian  Minister.  Tales  were  told 
of  this  kitten  and  the  King's  affection  for  it,  of  its 
flexible  silver  collar  with  the  writing,  worked  in  tiny 
turquoises,  "I  am  the  King's  cat."  Not  in  any  way  a 
remarkable  kitten  except  for  the  fact,  which  hardly 
anyone  knew,  that  it  had  been  born  in  Baltimore, 
Ohio,  and  much  loved  before  it  crossed  the  sea. 

Nevertheless,  as  time  went  on,  the  importance  of 
the  Princess  Georgina  inevitably  increased.  She 
could  speak  with  personal  knowledge  of  the  prac- 

264 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

tices  of  four  reigns.  In  those  more  than  ever  demo- 
cratic days  she  became  a  kind  of  residuum  of  court 
tradition,  and  an  oracle  whose  voice  was  ever  a 
faithful  echo  of  the  past.  It  was  she  who  saved  the 
state  dinners  from  the  cinematograph.  Ambassadors 
flattered  her;  she  was  the  personal  friend  of  all 
cabinet  ministers  of  the  first  rank,  and  was  supposed 
to  have  more  power  than  anyone  to  "steady  the 
King."  He  did  sometimes  consult  her,  and  always 
profited  by  her  advice. 

An  evening  party  in  a  historic  house  of  Berkeley 
Square  offered  to  Baron  von  Warteg  the  opportunity 
he  wanted  for  a  chat  with  the  Princess.  From  her 
throne  upon  the  sofa  on  the  dais  she  gave  him  her 
hand  to  kiss,  and  he  bent  over  it  with  the  grace  that 
never  failed  to  enchant  her  in  so  definitely  stout  and 
middle-aged  a  person  as  the  German  Ambassador. 
Graciously  the  Princess  accepted  the  retirement  of  her 
host  from  the  sofa,  and  Herr  von  Warteg  obeyed 
the  gesture  which  gave  him  a  seat  beside  her.  They 
talked  of  the  warmth  of  the  room,  of  Princess  Geor- 
gina's  recent  influenza,  of  the  daffodils  in  the 
park. 

"And  we  are  living  among  events,  is  it  not  so, 
Kaiserliche  Hoheit?  The  times  are  not  dull.  No, 
they  are  not  dull  at  all." 

"True,  Baron.  In  some  ways  we  could  wish  them 
duller — in  others  more  exciting,"  the  Princess  re- 

265 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

plied,  with  a  smile,  which  brought  forth  from  the 
Baron  a  kind  of  purr  of  response.  Old  as  she  was 
the  Princess  would  always  dance. 

"This  American  affair  now — you  do  not  feel,  your- 
self the  least  vexation  I  am  certain,  heinf" 

"My  good  friend,  why  should  anyone  feel  vexa- 
tion? They  took  the  first  step;  we  naturally  re- 
sponded to  an  overture  so  full  of  good  feeling.  Now 
they  reconsider.  Foila  tout!" 

"Yes,  yes,"  the  Baron  nodded  weightily,  reflective- 
ly. "Yes.  And — a  bargain  with  the  Americans — * 
in  my  country  we  think  it  not  altogether  well.  They 
are  fickle,  the  Americans." 

The  Princess  shook,  ever  so  lightly,  the  fan  of 
admonition  at  the  Ambassador. 

"You  mustn't  abuse  our  kinsfolk,  Excellency." 

"Kinsfolk!  Ach,  yes.  Removed  a  little.  And  in 
a  sense  our  kinsfolk  also." 

"In  a  sense  the  kinsfolk  of  all  Europe,  my  dear 
Baron,"  the  Princess  replied  sweetly. 

Baron  Warteg's  sleepy  eyes  opened  a  trifle  wider. 
He  may  have  been  thinking  of  the  wrecking  of  a 
newspaper  office  in  New  York  by  a  German-Ameri- 
can mob  the  week  before,  as  a  protest  against  the 
treaty. 

"No  doubt  it  may  be  put  that  way  also.  But,  Ach  I 
The  treaty!  And — in  a  way,  too,  such  a  good  thing, 
that  treaty.  And  on  both  sides  the  people  so  pleased, 

266 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

is  it  not?  I  think  one  day  you  will  haf  that  treaty. 
It  is  my  opinion." 

The  Princess  closed  her  fan. 

"When  I  hear  the  voice  of  the  people,  Baron,  I 
am  tempted  to  shut  the  door.  When  I  open  it  again 
they  will  be  saying  something  else !" 

"You  are  tempted — ach,  so!"  Baron  von  War- 
teg  laughed  a  short,  fat  laugh  not  calculated  to  dis- 
turb his  dinner.  "But  this  is  the  fourth  time  they 
have  tried  already.  What  two  peoples  want  four 
times  one  day  it  will  happen.  The  King  should  not 
be  discouraged." 

"Ah,  Excellency,  if  all  our  friends  only  wished 
us  as  well  as  you  do !"  smiled  the  Princess,  and 
turned  not  one  gray  hair.  "The  King  looked  well, 
did  you  not  think,  at  the  unveiling  this  morning?" 

The  unveiling  was  of  a  statue  to  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, to  which  the  treaty  was  hoped  to  have  given 
more  than  a  sentimental  significance. 

"His  Majesty  seemed  in  the  best  of  health.  But 
he  does  too  much,  Princess.  He  is  everywhere.  It 
is  splendid — he  thinks  never  of  himself — but " 

"And  will  you  tell  me,  Baron,  what  there  is  to  keep 
him  at  home?  No  ties — no  interests " 

The  Baron  nodded  sympathetically.  This  was  a 
matter  upon  which  the  Princess  would  be  less  reticent 
— an  old  subject  between  them. 

"If  you  could  but  see  the  private  rooms  at  the 

267 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

palace!  So  bare  and  barren!  No  little  nothings 
scattered  about  that  tell  of  a  woman's  hand!  No 
charm,  Baron." 

"No  sharm,  no  Princess.  It  is  that  to  me  which 
is  so  sad  also.  Ach,  well — and  the  fruit  is  dropping, 
Princess.  The  fruit  is  dropping  from  the  tree." 

"Not  yet  the  fruit,  Excellency.  I  admit  the  mar- 
riages in  Holland  and  in  Norway " 

The  Ambassador  waved  his  hand.  He  had  been 
thinking  of  the  Archduchess  Valerie  and  Augusta 
of  Ritterstein-Walpeck,  both  married  within  the 
year;  and  Princess  Georgina  knew  it. 

"But  my  dear  little  friend  Sophia " 

"She  still  hangs  by  the  tree,"  stated  the  Baron, 
heavily  pursuing  his  figure.  "It  is  true.  She  still 
hangs  by  the  tree." 

"Now  in  this  our  hope  is  the  same,  Excellency. 
Cartes  sur  la  table!  Is  it  because  of  that  hopeless 
affair  with  Karl  Salvator,  or  is  it  because  of  her 
uncle's  wishes  toward  us?" 

The  Baron  von  Warteg  leaned  back  in  the  sofa 
and  poised  his  head  so  delicately  on  the  end  of  his 
neck  that  it  vibrated  there  for  a  second  or  two,  with 
an  effect  of  immense  consideration.  When  it  had 
ceased  to  shake  he  swung  it  round  at  the  Princess. 

"I  think  it  may  be  someting  of  both.  But  soon  too 
that  fruit  must  now  drop.  I  naturally  from  time 
to  time  from  Witterling  hear,  and  he  has  said  to 

268 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

me  that  poor  girl  for  her  kinder  about  her  begins 
to  ask.  And  so — if  nothing  happens  in  May " 

"Something  must''  said  the  Princess  fervently, 
"Something  must  happen  in  May." 

"That  we  shall  see.  The  King  at  least  will  be  in 
Paris.  The  Lady  will  also  be  in  Paris  already. 
They  meet.  Wir  konnen  nichts  mehr.  But  there 
are  things  vich  someone  dear  to  him  and  close  to 
him  should  speak  to  His  Majesty " 

The  Princess  inclined  her  head.  There  was  no 
one  more  close  to  His  Majesty,  presumably  no  one 
more  dear  to  him  than  she.  They  talked  together 
for  another  five  minutes,  not  more,  and  in  that  time 
spoke  of  matters  of  which  the  high  privacy  is  sel- 
dom broken  to  the  world.  One  word,  perhaps,  may 
be  told.  The  Princess  learned,  and  it  was  news  to 
her,  that  the  Archduke  Karl  Salvator  had  resigned 
the  army.  "He  is  now  altogether  become  a  doctor, 
that  poor  man,"  Warteg  told  her.  "Two  castles 
of  his  into  hospitals  he  has  turned.  The  Pope  has 
begun  to  decorate  him.  He  will  not  now  marry." 
It  was  all  to  the  good. 

There  were  perhaps  not  many  matters  upon  which 
the  desire  of  the  Princess  Georgina's  and  the  Baron 
von  Warteg's  heart  was  united,  but  the  marriage  of 
King  Alfred  and  the  Princess  Sophia  of  Sternburg- 
Hofstein  was  one.  It  was  a  simple  course,  an  ob- 
vious course,  a  right  course,  and  yet  one  that  seemed 

269 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

so  beset  with  impalpable  difficulties  that  the  end  in 
view  could  not  be  said  to  be  in  sight.  Alfred  would 
never  state  his  objection — could  indeed  have  no  ob- 
jection— to  the  girl  he  had  not  seen  since  she  was 
in  pigtails,  yet  with  one  excuse  after  another  he  had 
hitherto  declined  to  look  upon  her  again.  If  he 
had  shown  initiative  in  any  other  direction,  his  aunt 
would  have  forgiven  him,  but  less  interest  it  was 
impossible  to  exhibit  in  the  daughters  and  nieces  of 
his  "cousins"  of  Europe.  He  told  her  once  he  had 
married  Britannia,  and  was  very  well  pleased  with 
his  wife.  When  a  whisper  began  to  be  heard  about 
that  odd,  magnetic  creature  the  Countess  Waldo- 
gradoff,  the  Princess  was  not  displeased.  She  wel- 
comed any  influence,  however  indirect,  that  might 
lead  the  King  to  realize  that  there  should  have  been  a 
nursery  in  Buckingham  Palace  for  at  least  the  past 
three  years. 

At  last,  however,  Alfred  seemed  willing  to  take 
the  first  step  toward  the  most  desirable  alliance 
— unless  he  proposed  to  wait  until  tots  of  six  and 
seven  were  grown  up — that  remained  for  him  in 
Europe.  Knowing  as  he  did,  that  the  Princess 
Sophia  with  her  aunt,  the  Grand  Duchess  Alma,  was 
to  spend  the  second  half  of  May  in  Paris,  he  had 
not  refused  to  fix  the  last  week  for  his  return  visit  to 
the  President  of  the  Republic.  It  was  an  immense 
gain,  a  clear  indication,  it  was  thought,  of  the  dawn- 

270 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ing  of  a  new  state  of  grace  in  His  Majesty  toward 
the  duties  and  privileges  of  his  royal  estate.  The 
meeting  would  at  least  take  place,  with  as  little 
formality  as  could  be  managed,  and  if  nothing- 
transpired  then  to  encourage  their  faint  spark  of 
hope 

"But  it  will,"  said  the  Princess  confidently.  "They 
are  coming  to  take  me  to  supper,  so  we  must  chat  an- 
other time,  dear  Baron.  It  will — I  know  it  will.  In 
the  end,  in  these  matters,  the  right  thing  always  hap- 
pens." 

The  Ambassador  was  on  his  legs.  "I  gif  you  a 
German  watchword,  Royal  Highness,  for  the  time 
that  is  to  us  now  left.  Set  nur  bravf" 

He  bowed  low  with  this  last  word. 

"Geschelen!"  cried  the  Princess  gaily,  as  she  sailed 
away  to  supper. 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

IT  was  impossible  to  say  that  a  ball  at  the  Elysee 
would  not  be  acceptable  to  King  Alfred  as  an 
early  fixture  of  his  week  as  the  guest  of  the 
President,  although  His  Majesty  danced  so  little — 
seldom  at  home,  and  even  more  rarely  abroad.  His 
Majesty  was  known  as  the  most  serious  young  man 
in  Europe.  But  the  King  would  be  charmed  with  a 
ball.  "Of  the  two,"  he  said  to  Lord  Despenser,  his 
private  secretary,  comparing  it  with  the  equally  in- 
evitable gala  performance  at  the  Opera,  "it's  much 
the  less  likely  to  give  one  a  headache."  And  the 
visit  was  to  have  real  attractions  for  Alfred.  He 
was  to  be  shown  all — or  perhaps  nearly  all — that 
had  been  accomplished  in  the  science  of  aerial  navi- 
gation in  France  in  the  last  very  eventful  year  in 
that  direction.  It  was  arranged  that  he  should  re- 
ceive Du  Rozet,  the  marvelous  Du  Rozet,  who 
stood  still  in  the  air.  France  was  more  than  ever 
mistress  overhead.  At  the  banquet  he  was  to  speak 
of  it  in  terms  of  congratulation  that  were  none  the 
less  fine  for  being  so  simple,  things  he  had  himself 

272 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

thought  of  to  say.  He  was  to  decorate  Du  Rozet. 
It  had  not  been  arranged,  but  he  privately  meant, 
with  all  the  grace  and  impulse  of  the  impromptu,  to 
accompany  Du  Rozet  as  passenger  in  some  excur- 
sion aloft  not  yet  outworn  by  familiarity.  These 
were  to  be  the  pleasures  of  the  visit,  the  thing  apart 
from  politics,  which  made  it  to  him  so  specially 
worth  while;  but  he  held  himself  equally  responsive 
to  the  ceremonials  by  which,  he  told  himself,  he 
earned  his  living.  Already  in  his  tours  he  had  won 
a  reputation  for  dependability  in  fulfilling  the  least 
important  of  his  engagements.  "The  King  never 
disappoints,"  was  a  common  phrase  at  home  and 
abroad.  He  sent  no  substitute  and  made  no  excuses, 
even  in  his  own  dominions.  It  was  a  characteristic 
that  made  the  Princess  Georgina  very  hopeful  about 
one  issue  of  the  visit  to  Paris. 

Alfred  was  aware  that  at  one  time  or  another  dur- 
ing his  visit,  the  unpremeditated  meeting  with  the 
Princess  Sophia  would  take  place.  He  accepted  that, 
too,  as  part  of  the  inevitable.  In  the  last  year  or 
two  it  had  become  increasingly  difficult  to  evade  this 
contingency;  it  had  buzzed  like  a  perpetual  blue- 
bottle in  his  life.  On  this  occasion  he  meant,  ever  so 
humanely,  to  squash  the  blue-bottle.  He  had  no 
illusions  as  to  inflicting  any  distress  upon  the  Prin- 
cess Sophy  in  doing  it.  He  was  perhaps  even  better 
informed  than  Herr  von  Warteg  about  the  state  of 

273 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

her  mind  and  heart.  For  such  talk,  from  court  to 
court  the  way  is  short,  and  already  the  world  had 
drawn  about  the  thwarted  affection  of  the  Princess 
Sophia  and  the  Archduke  Karl  Salvator  a  sentimental 
halo  of  fidelity  without  hope.  King  Alfred  had  first 
learned  of  it  long  ago,  in  a  far  land,  one  memorable 
day  on  the  waters  of  an  enchanted  forest,  and  had 
never  forgotten.  He  sometimes  rehearsed  to  him- 
self what  he  should  say,  when  at  last  their  respective 
tormentors  should  succeed,  and  leave  him  discreetly 
alone  with  poor  Sophy  to  make  better  acquaintance. 
What  he  could  say  would  depend,  altogether,  upon 
what  she  was  like;  he  had  the  vaguest  notion  what 
she  was  like.  But  what  he  would  desire  to  convey, 
with  every  friendliness,  might  be  paraphrased  like 
this: 

"Gentle  cousin — because  you  are  my  cousin — we 
both  know  exactly  what  they  are  up  to,  don't  we? 
And  without  seeming  in  the  least  to  pry  into  your 
affairs,  I  want  to  take  this  opportunity  of  assuring 
you  that  nothing  will  ever  induce  me  to  allow  you 
to  be  worried  about  it.  I  give  you  my  word.  And 
if  you  will  allow  me,  as  your  cousin,  to  say  so,  I 
think  he's  the  best  fellow  in  Germany,  as  well  as  no 
end  of  a  doctor.  And  my  advice  to  you,  dear  Prin- 
cess, if  you  will  accept  it,  is  to  dp  as  I  do.  That 
is,  tire  them  out." 

As  the  time  drew  near  he  wondered,  quite  with  a 

274 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

lively  interest,  whether  she  would  be  the  kind  of 
person  one  could  say  that  sort  of  thing  to,  or  whether 
from  the  beginning  he  would  have  to  find  phrases, 
and  take  precautions,  and  maneuver,  as  had  been  for 
the  last  five  years  so  much  the  habit  of  his  life. 

He  was  thinking  about  it  again  as  he  adjusted  the 
blue  ribbon  of  the  Garter  across  his  breast,  prepara- 
tory to  the  state  dinner  which  was  to  precede  the 
ball,  thinking  of  it  at  that  intimate  moment  before 
the  looking-glass  which,  in  spite  of  ministering 
valets,  must  precede  such  functions  for  kings  as  for 
deputies.  It  would  save  a  great  deal  of  trouble  if 
Sophia  was  that  kind  of  person.  There  was  just  a 
chance  of  it.  She  had  been  at  school ;  and  at  school, 
he  said  to  himself,  "she  was  a  friend  of  my  wife." 
She  ought  to  be  open,  and  frank,  and  simple,  ap- 
proachable in  open,  frank,  and  simple  terms.  But 
the  odds,  he  recognized  heavily,  were  against  it. 
He  would  almost  certainly  be  obliged  to  fence  and 
dissemble;  and  there  was  nothing  he  was  worse 
at. 

"I  shall  have  to  let  her  make  most  of  the  run- 
ning," he  counseled  himself.  "Otherwise  she'll  see 
through  me  in  two  seconds."  And  he  remembered 
again  the  polite  and  dignified  set  of  observations 
about  the  world  in  general  with  which  he  would  con- 
vey to  her  that  nothing  was  further  from  his  mind 
than  marrying  anyone  in  particular. 

275 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

Catkin,  who  was  still  with  him,  had  ventured  to 
say  at  some  point  in  his  assistance,  that  this  was  the 
first  ball  His  Majesty  had  attended  in  what  might 
be  called  foreign  parts  since  the  occasion  at  Wash- 
ington, "When  I  put  out  your  Rifles  uniform,  sir." 
This  time  it  was  the  ordinary  evening  dress  of  an 
English  gentleman,  and  no  pranks — accompanied 
now  by  the  symbols  of  the  Most  Exalted  Order  of 
the  Garter,  and  the  star  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 
Catkin  was  better  content. 

Perhaps  it  was  Catkin's  remark,  helped  by  some 
reaction  from  the  high,  formal  occasions  through 
which  he  had  been  passing  with  such  distinction  and 
acclaim  all  the  day,  that  suddenly  filled  Alfred's 
mind  with  a  sense  of  the  old  freedom  of  talk  at 
Colson's  Point,  with  the  presence  almost  of  Morrow, 
of  Henry  Lanchester — of  Abe,  good  old  Abe.  It 
seemed  to  blow  in  at  the  long  window  with  the  spring 
wind,  from  anywhere,  from  nowhere;  and  it  took 
such  possession  of  him  that  he  deliberately  sat  down 
to  feel  it,  with  a  smile  on  his  lips.  Words  came 
back,  and  the  scent  of  balsam  boughs,  and  far  over 
the  water  the  drifting  leaves  of  birch  and  maple. 
.  .  .  He  sat,  stirred  and  smiling;  and  when  he  came 
out  of  his  reverie  it  was  with  a  wonderful  high  beat 
of  the  heart.  Through  the  dinner  he  was  full  of 
talk,  with  a  restless,  questioning  eye;  and  when  it 
was  over  he  put  on  his  gloves  for  the  ballroom  with 

276 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

a  readiness  which  brought  a  sigh  from  the  stout 
President. 

11 A h,  sire,  la  jeunesse " 

It  brought  him  back  the  tap  of  the  old  lady's  fan 
in  the  White  House,  and  her  word  to  him — "There's 
only  one  time  to  dance,  Prince."  Well,  he  had 
danced,  and  perhaps  he  would  dance  again.  Again, 
as  he  entered  the  ballroom  to  the  familiar  music  of 
his  own  national  anthem,  he  felt  that  former  magic 
in  his  feet.  It  quickened  strangely  with  the  heady, 
rapturous  lift  of  the  Marseillaise. 

And  what  the  world  saw,  watching  under  the 
sparkling  diadems  of  the  new  plutocracy,  or  the  more 
tarnished  and  distinguished  heirlooms  of  the  Fau- 
bourg— what  the  world  saw  watching,  all  smiles  and 
vivacity  and  exquisitely  measured  behavior,  was  a 
tall  young  man,  with  a  very  dignified  carriage  of  the 
head,  "Plus  beau  meme  que  ses  portraits"  accom- 
panied by  a  soldier  staff  splendid  in  red  and  gold, 
and  rows  of  medals  conspicuous  as  the  valor  that 
won  them.  That  was  what  the  world  saw,  the  privi- 
leged world,  breaking  into  two  to  make  an  aisle  of 
passage  to  the  higher  place  beyond  the  tasseled 
ropes  where  the  ladies  of  the  Cabinet  were  gathered, 
and  the  Embassies,  and  where,  for  a  little,  all  was 
ceremony  and  bows  from  the  waist.  The  Bourbon 
ballroom  never  saw  a  scene  more  brilliant,  or,  when 
the  young  King  of  England  led  forth  in  the  quadrille 

277 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

of  honor  the  gray-haired  wife  of  the  President  of  the 
Republic,  an  occasion  more  moving.  It  was  danced, 
the  quadrille  of  honor,  with  marked  precision  on 
the  part  of  England,  with  infinite  grace  on  the  part 
of  France;  and  the  only  regret  was  that  the  Arch- 
duchess Sophia  Ludovica  did  not  arrive  in  time  to 
take  her  place  in  it,  which  was  nevertheless  filled 
quite  adequately  by  the  wife  of  the  Austrian  Ambas- 
sador. 

So  pleasant,  so  charming,  so  motherly  was  his 
official  hostess  that  Alfred  a  little  later  impulsively 
said  to  her: 

"Do  you  know,  you  remind  me  immensely,  Ma- 
dame, of  my  very  dear  friend  in  America,  Mrs. 
James  Phipps." 

"Madame  Pipe!  But,  sire,  she  is  here  now — she 
is  with  us  to-night,  that  lady!"  exclaimed  Madame 
Berthou,  all  happiness.  "In  this  crowd  it  is  impos- 
sible that  Your  Majesty  has  yet  seen  her.  But  she 
is  here." 

"The  wife  of  the  ex-President?"  demanded  her 
guest. 

"But  yes!  At  the  last  moment  almost  one  has 
asked  a  card,  from  the  American  Embassy.  Some 
part,  she  is  with  us,"  beamed  his  hostess.  "Is  it 
permitted  that  we  send  to  find  Madame  Pipe?" 

Alfred  with  a  bounding  heart  expressed  his  pleas- 
ure and  remembered  his  self-control. 

278 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"It  will  be  delightful  to  see  her  again,"  he  said. 
"Perhaps  a  little  later  in  the  evening?  She  may  be 
not  yet  arrived." 

It  would  indeed  be  delightful  to  see  her  again. 
It  could  not  be  three  weeks,  he  calculated  rapidly, 
since  Hilary  had  been  with  her,  with  them  both  for 
their  silver  wedding,  in  the  University  suburb  of 
Boston  to  which  they  had  retired.  He  would  get, 
if  he  could  only  ask  for  it  with  discretion,  a  word 
of  Hilary  which  would  be  almost  warm  from  her- 
self. But  he  must  show  no  impatience.  He  set  him- 
self to  describe  to  Madame  Berthou  some  features 
of  the  White  House  at  Washington,  and  on  the 
whole  to  congratulate  her  that  her  own  official  dwell- 
ing should  be  much  as  the  last  Napoleon  had  left  it. 

Presently  a  murmured  word  from  Lord  Despenser 
conveyed  to  him  a  reminder. 

"I  believe,  Madame,  that  my  cousin  of  Sternburg- 
Hofstein  is  also  my  fellow-guest  to-night,"  he  said. 
"I  should  like,  if  I  may,  presently  to  pay  her  my 
respects." 

Madame  Berthou  nodded  gaily  toward  a  sofa  op- 
posite, but  at  an  angle,  and  withdrawn  in  an  alcove, 
about  which  all  that  he  saw  immediately  was  a  con- 
fused flowing  of  skirts. 

"Her  Serene  Highness  is  already  seated  quite  near 
by,"  she  said.  "That  is  her  chamberlain  now  speak- 
ing with  the  President,  and  the  German  Ambassa- 

279 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

dress  is  just  leaving  her  now.  I  will  myself,"  said 
Madame  Berthou,  rising,  "bring  Her  Serene  High- 
ness to  speak  with  Your  Majesty." 

But  Alfred  was  already  on  his  feet. 

"No,"  he  said  impulsively,  "I  will  go  to  my 
cousin."  To  himself  he  was  saying,  "I'm  not  going 
to  have  her  marched  up  in  the  face  of  Europe  to  be 
refused.  That's  too  hard  luck." 

Madame  Berthou  glanced  over  her  shoulder,  and 
an  A.D.C.  brought  his  heels  together  beside  them. 

"Captain  Ducheyne  then  will  conduct  you,  sire," 
said  she,  with  a  smile  that  made  her  more  motherly 
than  ever.  His  Majesty  was  of  an  amiability,  of  a 
desinvolture  most  touching. 

The  famous  orchestra  was  pouring  its  soul  out 
in  a  waltz;  the  floor  was  full  of  whirling  figures. 
Never  had  he  seen  so  many  short,  black  beards  twirl- 
ing furiously  round  and  round.  That  was  the 
thought  that  crossed  Alfred's  mind  as  he  accepted 
the  conduct  of  Captain  Ducheyne  toward  the  sofa 
upon  which  sat  Her  Serene  Highness  the  Princess 
Sophia  Ludovica  of  Sternburg-Hofstein,  plump  in 
pale  green  satin,  more  or  less  surrounded  by  persons 
in  attendance  upon  her.  The  Ambassador  for  Ger- 
many moved,  with  a  gratified  air,  a  small  chair 
which  stood  in  the  way;  the  Chief  Chamberlain  of 
Sternburg-Hofstein  took  a  pace  or  two  backward 
with  the  intention  to  efface  himself.  The  world,  the 

280 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

great  world  of  Europe,  delicately  chatting  and  os- 
tensibly unaware,  was  on  tiptoe,  and  every  glance 
was  charged.  Then  it  all  happened,  so  quickly — 
so  quickly,  that  many  would  not  believe  their  eyes. 
Three  steps  away  the  King  was  noticed  suddenly  to 
stop  and  grow  pale.  Then  he  completed  his  advance 
to  the  sofa,  where  he  bowed  to  Her  Serene  High- 
ness, and  to  the  other  lady  seated  beside  her,  a  young 
lady  of  great  beauty  but  white  as  death,  with  equal 
formality.  There  were  those  who  said  he  addressed 
one  sentence  to  the  Princess;  there  were  those  who 
said  he  addressed  two;  but  there  was  only  one  re- 
port— it  flew — of  what  he  did.  After  a  bare  min- 
ute he  turned  to  the  beautiful  American  lady,  white 
as  a  lily  beside  the  Princess,  and  said — for  the  sec- 
ond time  in  his  life — "May  I  have  this  one?"  With 
astonishment  the  Chief  Chamberlain  of  the  Court 
of  Sternburg-Hofstein  saw  her  rise  and  float  away 
with  the  King  upon  the  ballroom  floor.  With  aston- 
ishment the  Ambassador  for  Germany  also,  and  per- 
haps not  without  astonishment  Her  Serene  Highness 
herself,  saw  them  float  away. 

"I  sink,"  growled  His  Excellency,  "that  His  Maj- 
esty 'as  mistook  those  two  ladies.  If  not,  it  is  an 
affrond " 

He  said  it  in  French  to  the  Secretary  of  his  own 
Legation,  but  the  pronunciation  was  the  same. 
There  was  barely  time  for  him  to  say  this,  and  to 

281 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

turn  about  with  the  intention  of  bringing  his  support 
to  the  deserted  Princess,  when  between  him  and  her 
sacred  sofa  was  suddenly  thrust  the  person  of  a  tall, 
thin  gentleman,  with  a  straggling  fair  beard,  and  a 
head  like  a  saint  in  a  window.  Nevertheless  he 
brought  his  heels  together  before  the  Princess  in  the 
manner  of  this  world,  and  offered  her  his  arm,  which 
she  took  with  the  look  of  a  Princess  who  dreamed 
and  was  very  much  afraid.  But  she  took  it,  and  they 
too  floated  away. 

"Lieber  Go///"  said  the  German  Ambassador,  and 
lumbered  away  to  telegraph  in  full  to  Potsdam. 

Never  was  a  dance  so  short  as  that  danced  by 
King  Alfred  of  England  with  Miss  Hilary  Lanches- 
ter  of  Baltimore,  Ohio;  never,  in  the  pauses,  were 
words  exchanged  less  to  be  forgotten  or  reported. 
When  Mrs.  Phipps  from  her  corner  among  the 
dowagers  saw  it  happen,  she  felt  the  extremely  guilty 
pang  of  the  accomplice  who  does  not  approve,  and 
found  herself  explaining  to  the  wife  of  her  country's 
ambassador,  "Oh,  yes,  he  knew  them  very  well  in 
the  Adirondacks  when  he  was  just  Prince  Alfred." 
At  the  end  of  the  dance  she  summoned  all  her  forti- 
tude, for  she  saw  them  approaching,  and  before 
many  moments  she  needed  it. 

"I  have  told  His  Majesty,"  said  Hilary,  with  a 
wonderful  bloom  in  her  cheeks  and  a  proud  light 
in  her  eyes,  "that  we  leave  for  Genoa  to-morrow 

282 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

night,  but  he  says,  darling,  that  he  must  come  to  tea 
with  us  at  our  hotel.  May  he?" 

"Yes,"  said  Alfred,  "I  must,  whether  I  may  or 
not,  dear  Mrs.  Phipps." 

He  could  not  have  put  it,  Mrs.  Phipps  said  next 
day,  in  a  way  that  was  more  characteristic.  She 
said  it  in  the  act  of  opening  the  New  York  Herald, 
which,  in  its  description  of  the  ball  at  the  Elysee  the 
night  before,  remarked  upon  the  somewhat  unex- 
pected presence  there  of  the  Archduke  Karl  Salvator 
of  Herningen.  Two  days  later  that  enterprising 
journal  was  the  first  in  Europe  to  announce  the  be- 
trothal of  the  Archduke,  with  His  Imperial  Majesty 
the  Kaiser's  full  consent  and  approval,  to  the  Hered- 
itary Princess  Sophia  Ludovica  of  Sternburg-Hof- 
stein.  The  announcement  added  that  the  arrange- 
ment had  long  been  pending,  but  that  the  religious 
difficulty  had  been  in  the  way.  This  was  now  happily 
settled.  The  boys  were  to  be  brought  up  Catholics, 
the  girls  Protestants. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE  King  was  sitting  with  the  kitten  on  his 
knee  when  Mr.  Arthur  Youghall  was  ush- 
ered into  his  presence.  It  was  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  middle  of  his  working  hours. 
The  French  visit,  just  over,  had  accumulated  busi- 
ness for  His  Majesty,  and  his  desk  was  covered  with 
papers.  He  had  arrived  from  Paris  only  the  night 
before.  Notwithstanding  all  that  awaited  him,  Al- 
fred would  see  none  of  his  people  that  morning  until 
after  Mr.  Youghall  had  been  and  gone.  Colonel 
Sir  Francis  Oldboys,  His  Majesty's  Assistant  Private 
Secretary,  through  whose  room  Youghall  passed  to 
get  to  the  King's,  looked  up  without  enthusiasm  to 
return  his  salutation.  It  was  not  a  thing  the  House- 
hold altogether  understood,  that  the  young  Canadian 
Under-Secretary,  who  was  so  plainly  no  courtier, 
should  be  so  often  sent  for,  while  more  important 
people  were  kept  waiting.  Of  course  the  King  was 
keen  on  Youghall's  shop;  but  that  didn't  explain  his 
sitting  up  with  him  half  the  night  at  Sandringham, 
for  instance,  when  he  had  seen,  in  his  pleasant  way, 

284 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

all  his  other  guests  safely  to  their  rooms.  Youghall's 
was  one  of  those  outside  influences,  so  difficult  to  cal- 
culate; and  the  Court  was  somewhat  disposed  to 
show  him  the  empty  face  of  toleration. 

A  sheet  of  blackened  blotting  paper  on  the  floor, 
and  an  inky  stream  across  the  topmost  page  on  the 
desk  told  their  own  tale.  The  kitten,  purring  unre- 
pentant under  the  King's  caress,  looked  ready  for 
another  spring. 

"Good  morning,  Arthur.  Sit  down,  will  you?" 
Alfred  held  out  his  hand  with  careful  regard  to  the 
equilibrium  of  the  kitten.  "Columbia  has  been  in 
mischief  again."  His  tone  was  rather  pleased  and 
satisfied  with  Columbia. 

"I  see  she  has.     Can  I  do  anything?" 

"No,  don't  bother.  Some  of  the  fellows  will  see 
to  it.  Well,  I'm  back.  Have  you  heard  what  hap- 
pened?" 

"You  made  a  speech,  sir,  you  dined,  you  flew,  and 
you— danced,"  replied  Youghall  gravely,  yet  with 
a  twinkle. 

"I  see  you  do  know.  Drop  it,  Columbia  S"  He 
liberated  his  thumb.  "I  wish  you  wouldn't  'sir'  me 
in  private,  Arthur.  You  know  how  I  dislike  it. 
Couldn't  you  call  me  'Cakes,'  as  old  Longworth 
used  to?" 

"No,"  said  Youghall  steadfastly,  "I  don't  think 
I  could  call  you  'Cakes.'  " 

285 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Well,  hang  it,  old  chap,  I  must  have  somebody 
to  address  me  in  terms  of  humanity  occasionally. 
And  you  are  closer  to  me,  Arthur,  than  anybody  else 
in  the  world — you  know  you  are." 

King  Alfred,  still  playing  with  his  kitten,  turned 
upon  his  Under-Secretary  for  War  the  happiest  face 
he  had  offered  to  the  inspection  of  anyone  since  the 
day  of  his  proclamation.  Youghall  perceived  it,  and 
hardened  his  heart.  There  was  something  sus- 
piciously like  boyish  cajolery  in  the  King's  voice. 

"I  could  never  stick  Lengthy's  doing  it,"  he  said. 
"Beastly  cheek.  But  if  it  would  warm  your  heart 
to  know  it,  your  health  is  drunk  as  King  Cakes  in 
half  the  pubs  of  the  United  Kingdom." 

Alfred  laughed  delightedly.  "Good!"  he  ex- 
claimed. "That's  ripping.  I'll  tell  Despenser  that 
— he's  so  stuck  on  propriety.  Then — it  is  generally 
known,  Youghall — talked  about?" 

"It  is  very  generally  known.  And  I'm  afraid  it's 
the  talk  of  Europe." 

"My  one  little  dance  with  the  wrong  lady!  If 
they  only  knew  how  little  she  was  the  wrong  lady. 
I  say — I  consider  the  Kaiser  has  behaved  awfully 
well.  Don't  you  think  so?" 

"In  the  circumstances  the  Emperor  is  thought  to 
have  done  the  only  possible  thing.  They  say  he 
ought  to  give  Karl  Salvator  the  Black  Eagle  for 
saving  the  situation,"  Youghall  said.  "But — of 

286 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

course — he  is  in  the  worst  sort  of  a  temper.  I  be- 
lieve he  took  it  out  of  Lady  Poindexter  at  his  recep- 
tion on  Friday  night  rather  badly.  Poindexter  has 
hinted  that  he'd  like  to  be  transferred." 

Sir  Herbert  Poindexter  was  the  British  ambassa- 
dor to  the  court  of  Berlin. 

"I  hope  he  won't  do  anything  so  silly.  I'm  sorry 
for  Lady  Poindexter;  but  they  must  realize  by  this 
time  that  Heinrich  has  no  manners." 

Few  things  apparently  were  of  less  consequence  to 
His  Majesty  at  that  moment  than  the  feelings  of 
his  representative  in  Germany;  but  Youghall  shook 
his  head. 

"I  couldn't  help  it,  Youghall,"  pleaded  his  sov- 
ereign. "There  she  was,  you  know." 

The  Under-Secretary  felt  his  defences  melt  within 
him.  "Any  man  in  the  circumstances  would  have 
danced  with  his  wife,"  he  said  grimly.  "It's  easy 
to  exaggerate  the  thing.  It  looked  a  little  inten- 
tional, which  of  course  it  wasn't;  that's  all." 

"I  was  able  to  call  upon  my  cousin,  and  bring  my 
congratulations,  before  I  left.  I  did  all  I  could," 
Alfred  assured  him.  "I  never  saw  a  pleasanter 
young  woman.  Her  aunt  wasn't  over  civil.  Aunts," 
he  reflected,  "often  are  not.  But  now  that  we've 
got  through  with  all  that,  Youghall,  I  have  some 
things  to  say.  Come  over  here,  will  you?  I  don't 
want  to  shout." 

287 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Youghall  brought  his  chair  closer,  and  sat  down 
in  it  with  every  appearance  of  resistance  possible  to 
a  loyal  subject. 

"You  obliged  me  extremely  just  now  by  saying, 
'Any  man  would  have  danced  with  his  wife.'  I  infer 
that  you  do  think  of  her  as  my  wife — you  do  con- 
sider her  to  be  that." 

"You  know  how  the  law  stands,  sir.  But  if  you 
do,  I  do,"  said  Youghall. 

"Why  should  there  be  a  special  law  for  me?" 
cried  Alfred  passionately,  throwing  down  his  pen. 
"I  claim  the  protection  of  the  law  that  sustains  every 
man  in  this  realm,  except  those  of  my  family,  in  his 
private  affairs;  I  claim  the  protection  of  the  com- 
mon law,  Youghall!" 

"For  God's  sake,  not  so  loud." 

"One  way  or  another,  Youghall,  I  am  going  to 
make  an  end  of  this.  I  have  her  permission.  She 
started  for  Italy  next  day,  but  she  left  me  free 
to  act  as  I  thought  best.  She  agrees  that  we 
have  rights  as — as  human  beings,  Youghall, 
which  God  gave  us,  and  which  no  power  but  God 
can  take  away.  I  never  supposed  I  could  bring 
her  to  this,  but  I  did.  She  thought  we  ought  to 
wait,  and  we  have  waited;  but  now  she's  perfectly 
game." 

Youghall  sat  further  back  into  his  chair,  thrust 
his  hands  in  his  trousers  pockets,  recrossed  his  legs, 

288 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

and  said  nothing.  The  King  bore  it  for  a  moment 
and  then  remarked  plaintively: 

"I  wish  you  wouldn't  sit  like  that,  Youghall.  You 
make  me  think  of  the  treasury  bench." 

"Sorry,  sir,"  the  other  laughed  with  contrition, 
"but  you  had  the  floor,  you  know.  Won't  you  go 
on?" 

"Well,  I've  said  it,  haven't  I  ?  Somehow  or  other 
we  are  coming  out  into  the  open,  I  and  my  wife." 
He  folded  his  arms  and  looked  very  resolute. 
"Somehow  or  other.  I  ought  to  say  at  once,  Youg- 
hall, that  I  haven't  sent  for  you  to  ask  advice  about 
that.  I  have  made  up  my  mind.  But  the  great 
point  of  course  is  how,  and  there  I  expect  your  help." 

Still  Youghall  did  not  speak.  The  kitten  set 
itself  to  lick  its  master's  finger,  and  he  smiled  down 
at  it. 

"Yes,  kitty,"  he  said,  "before  you  are  a  cat,  Eng- 
land will  have  a  queen,  I  hope.  I  will,  anyway." 

"I  know  the  difficulties,"  the  King  went  on,  "and 
you  have  always  told  me  that  I  should  never  get  the 
consent  of  Parliament  to  my  marriage  to  Miss  Lan- 
chester  of  America.  But  supposing  I  ask  for  the 
recognition  of  that  lady  as  my  wife?  She  is  not  a 
nobody,  is  Miss  Lanchester  of  America.  Suppos- 
ing I  just  myself  sent  a  notice  to  the  Times  to-day 
of  that  event  at  Cascade,  with  the  date?  Who  is 
to  prevent  me?" 

289 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Youghall,  under  a  heavy  brow,  smiled  at  him. 

"Why,  the  Times  would,"  he  said.  "Yes,  sir.  I 
think  the  Times  would." 

Alfred  started  up,  and  put  two  or  three  stormy 
paces  between  them. 

"You  will  please  consider  that  we  are  not  jest- 
ing," he  said  over  his  shoulder.  The  kitten,  dis- 
lodged, humped  her  back  upon  the  floor  and  yawned. 

Youghall  also  rose  to  his  feet. 

"I  was  never  further  from  jesting  in  my  life,"  he 
said;  and  indeed  he  had  not  that  appearance. 

The  King  walked  over  to  the  window  and  stood 
there  for  a  moment  looking  out.  The  clock  that 
had  measured  the  labors  of  Queen  Victoria  ticked  in 
the  silence,  through  which  Youghall  also,  with  bent 
head,  stood  and  waited.  Presently  Alfred  turned. 

"I'm  a  bit  wrought  up,  Arthur.  Bad  nights  and 
so  on.  You'll — forgive  me.  But  I  do  mean  what 
I  say." 

"I  see  you  do,  sir.  And  I  am  here  to  take  your 
instructions." 

"Yes,"  Alfred  assented.  "But  also  to  help  me  to 
give  them.  That's  even  more  important." 

He  flung  himself  again  in  his  chair  as  he  spoke. 
The  kitten  immediately  re-established  herself;  and 
Youghall  too  resumed  his  seat. 

"Look  here,  Youghall.  Do  you  really  think  there 
would  be  such  a  row?  Look  here — if  you  consider 

290 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

history!  Who  was  the  mother  of  Queen  Elizabeth? 
Just  a  plain  gentlewoman.  Who  was  the  grand- 
mother of  Mary  and  Anne  Stuart?  Just  a  pretty 
barmaid.  Why  should  the  heavens  fall,  anyway,  if 
I  elect  to  marry  a  beautiful,  well-born,  wealthy 
American  lady  whose  father  has  held  the  highest 
office  in  his  country — and  whom  I  have  married 
already?" 

Youghall's  face  wore  the  expression  of  one  who 
had  heard  these  things  a  great  many  times  before. 
He  ventured  to  indicate  it. 

"We've  been  over  all  that  pretty  often,"  he  said. 
"It  would  be  impossible  to  calculate  the  effect  of  such 
a  disclosure  upon  the  country  in  normal  times — the 
disclosure  either  of  the  fact  or  of  Your  Majesty's 
wish  to  make  it  a  fact.  In  normal  times,  while  you 
might  carry  the  Commons  with  you — the  rank  and 
file — you  could  expect  nothing  but  the  antagonism 
of  your  own  order,  the  aristocracy,  and  the  classes 
who  support  the  crown." 

"The  aristocracy  marry  whom  they  please." 

"Yes,  but  they  won't  let  you  do  it.  To  their 
eyes,  you  see,  it's  knocking  two  legs  from  under  the 
throne,"  said  Youghall,  possibly  with  more  force 
than  elegance.  "But  we  needn't  consider  what  would 
happen  in  normal  times,  because,  for  the  purposes 
of  this  argument,  the  times  are  not  normal." 

"You  mean " 

291 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  mean  this.  For  the  fourth  time,  as  you  know, 
sir,  the  Americans  have  held  out  to  us  the  prospect 
of  a  treaty  of  arbitration,  and,  this  last  time,  of 
effectual  alliance.  For  the  fourth  time  they  have 
won  our  eager  co-operation  in  advance.  No  one  has 
done  more  than  you  yourself — and  you  know  what 
has  happened." 

Youghall,  as  he  talked,  mechanically  urged  with 
his  foot  a  revolving  bookcase,  and  sent  it  slowly 
circling. 

"Their  Senate  has  again  cut  the  thing  up  till  it's 
worthless,"  he  went  on. 

"I  know — I  know.    Go  on." 

"The  point  is,  we  are  beginning  on  this  side  to 
question  their  good  faith  in  this  business.  There's 
a  feeling  in  the  House — you  can't  be  surprised." 

"What  are  you  getting  at,  Youghall?" 

But  the  slow-spoken  Canadian  would  make  his 
point  in  his  own  way.  He  gave  the  bookcase  another 
push,  and  continued: 

"I  believe  it's  unjustified.  I  believe  the  American 
people  honestly  want  the  treaty — have  wanted  it 
every  time.  Every  now  and  again  they  throw  up  a 
president  who  wants  it  too.  And  every  time  the 
will  of  the  people  gets  caught  in  a  steel  trap  in  the 
Senate.  The  fact  is — you  couldn't  convince  them  of 
it,  but  the  Americans  are  better  than  some  of  their 
instruments.  It  stands  to  reason  that  the  man  they 

292 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

make  their  chief  executive  to-day  represents  them 
more  truly  than  the  institutions  they  set  up  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  And  president  after 
president,  standing  for  the  people,  has  wanted  this 
thing  done." 

The  King  had  taken  up  his  pen,  and  was  drawing 
a  key  pattern  round  the  inky  havoc  the  kitten  had 
made. 

"Yes,  Youghall — but  do  let  us  stick  to  the  point." 

"I  am  sticking  to  it — or  getting  to  it.  I  only  say 
that  these  things  being  true,  we  need  not  suppose, 
in  spite  of  the  jealousy  of  the  Senate,  or  the  hostility 
of  the  foreign  vote,  assisted  as  we  know  it  to  be  from 
this  side — we  need  not  suppose  that  the  treaty  is  at 
all  indefinitely  postponed." 

"Well?" 

"But  the  irritation  over  here  just  now  is  such  that 
not  only  would  the  chances  for  the  co-operation  you 
require  be  hopeless,  but" — and  in  spite  of  himself 
Youghall's  manner  grew  weightier — "the  refusal 
would  be  couched  in  terms  so  wounding  to  American 
susceptibilities  as  to  put  the  chances  for  any  treaty 
whatever  practically  out  of  Court  for  a  long  time. 
I  know  the  Americans,  sir,  and  it  would  be  so. 
There  are  men  in  the  House — there  are  men  in  the 
government — who  would  not  scruple  to  use  the  op- 
portunity of  such  a  debate,  if  such  a  debate  were 
imaginable,  to  repay  themselves  for  the  rather  hu- 

293 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

miliating  position  we  have  been  occupying  lately.  I 
can  only  say  that  I  believe  the  damage  to  the  hope  of 
the  effective  solidarity  of  the  race  would  be  very  great 
indeed." 

King  Alfred  listened,  and  in  silence  went  on  draw- 
ing his  pattern.  The  kitten  watching  on  his  knee 
followed  the  motions  of  his  pen  with  quick  little 
movements  of  her  head. 

"Then  what  do  you  want  me  to  do?" 
"To  wait,  sir.    To  wait  till  we  get  the  treaty." 
"To   wait    for   what   will   never   happen.      The 
Times'*  Washington  correspondent  said  at  the  time 
that  it  would  never  happen.     I  have  waited,  Youg- 
hall.     I  will  wait  no  longer." 
A  second  of  silence  passed. 

"Then  what  am  I  to  do?"  asked  Youghall  quietly. 
Alfred  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair. 
"My  God,  was  there  ever  a  man  more  helpless 
than  I  am !"  he  exclaimed.     "Do  you  mind  stopping 
twirling  that  thing  round  and  round?     I  beg  your 
pardon,   but  you've  annoyed  me.     Yes,  you  have, 
Youghall,  you've  annoyed  me  very  much.    There  are 
people  who  say  both  countries  would  be  better  with- 
out that  treaty." 

"Yes,  there  are,  but  I  do  not  believe  them." 
"And  if  it  did  come  to  pass — what  then?" 
"If  it  did  come  to  pass,  in  the  great  satisfaction 
that  would  be  felt  about  it,  what  you  propose — if 

294 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

you  still  proposed  it — would  be,  though  difficult,  far 
more  possible,"  said  Youghall  cautiously. 

"If  I  still  proposed  it!  To  wait — you  invite  me 
to  wait  until  this  thing  in  the  air,  this  relegated  thing, 
this  impossible  thing  should  become  an  actuality! 
Are  they  all  as  cold-blooded  in  Canada  as  you  are, 
Youghall?" 

The  day  was  raw  and  the  fire  had  burned  low. 
King  Alfred  went  to  it  and  stirred  it  with  the  poker. 
He  stood  over  it  shivering. 

"A  great  deal  of  quiet  work  is  being  done  on  both 
sides  that  will  not  stop  until  we  succeed,"  said  the 
Under-Secretary.  "And  this  last  majority  against  it 
in  the  Senate  was  very  narrow.  All  we  want  is  a 
president  who  is  a  bit  of  an  idealist,  a  strong  man 
and  a  stayer.  We  may  get  him  in  November " 

The  King  picked  a  piece  of  coal  out  of  the  scuttle, 
but  it  dropped  from  the  tongs  and  crashed  on  the 
hearth. 

"I  think — I  think  you  ought  to  put  the  coal  on  the 
grate,  Youghall,  and  not  leave  it  for  me  to  do " 

There  was  a  kind  of  quiver  in  his  voice.  Youghall 
dashed  at  the  fire  and  mended  it.  Then  he  met  his 
King's  miserable  eyes,  went  closer  and  threw  an  arm 
about  him.  So  they  stood  for  a  moment. 

"Thank  you,  Arthur.  I'm  all  right.  It's  this 
everlasting  fighting — and  nothing  there  to  fight. 
Always  in  the  wrong,  I  am.  That  takes  the  heart 

295 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

out  of  a  man,  you  know.  You  can  go  now,  dear 
chap.  Tell  Oldboys  as  you  go  through  that  I  shan't 
want  him  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour." 

He  had  gone  back  to  his  chair,  and  Youghall,  at 
the  sight  of  his  face,  remembered  with  a  tightening 
of  the  heart  how  it  had  looked  on  his  pillow  in  the 
tent  in  the  garden  at  Ottawa. 

"I  will  wait,"  said  Alfred.  "Of  course.  On  what 
you  tell  me  I  can  do  nothing  else." 

"At  all  events  till  November,"  softened  Youghall, 
but  the  King  did  not  look  up  again. 

He  went  out  with  so  serious  a  face  that  Sir  Fran- 
cis Oldboys,  to  whom  he  delivered  the  message,  felt 
indignant.  This  was  the  kind  of  worrying  to  which 
the  King's  interest  in  public  affairs  was  constantly 
subjecting  him.  Ten  to  one  the  fellow  had  been 
talking  the  shop  of  his  department!  Sir  Francis 
pulled  down  his  waistcoat  and  fumed  again.  Then 
he  set  himself  and  the  matters  upon  which  he  should 
take  His  Majesty's  pleasure,  to  wait  yet  another 
quarter  of  an  hour,  while  in  the  next  room  the  King 
his  master  stroked  the  kitten  on  his  knee. 


I 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

T  was  perfectly  delightful  to  see  him  again,  Hil, 
darling  —  perfectly  delightful  —  and  to  be 
singled  out  in  that  way  for  a  personal  vis- 


"Well,  considering,  Mumsie,  that  he  spent  a  whole 
week  with  you  in  Washington  he  couldn't  very  well 
have  done  less." 

They  were  sitting,  Mrs.  Phipps  and  Hilary  Lan- 
chester,  in  their  lit  salon  in  the  Rapide  that  glides 
out  of  Lyons  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing for  the  south.  They  had  left  Paris  the  night 
before,  but  Hilary  would  go  no  further  than 
Lyons,  no  further,  Mrs.  Phipps  suspected,  than 
the  easy  reach  of  the  Paris  newspapers.  All  day 
long  in  their  driving  and  sight-seeing  her  girl  had 
been  quiet  and  withdrawn.  From  her  behavior 
since  the  ball  it  might  be  supposed,  thought  Mrs. 
Phipps,  that  to  dance  with  a  King  of  England  and 
to  receive  him  intimately  the  next  afternoon  were 
things  that  might  happen  any  day  of  the  week. 
[Yet  Mrs.  Phipps  could  not  deny  a  certain  up- 

297 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

lift,  .  .  .  that  would  not  allow  itself  to  be  talked 
about. 

Now,  in  the  pale  gray  interior  of  their  compart- 
ment a  moment  of  expansion  seemed  to  have  come. 
The  maid  they  were  sharing  had  done  what  she 
could  for  them  for  the  night  and  gone  back  to  her 
own  carriage;  the  berths  had  not  yet  been  made  up. 
They  were  sitting  tiredly  together  after  their  long 
day;  Hilary's  hand  crept  into  her  friend's. 

"Things  were  different  then.  James  and  I  have 
been  forgotten  for  four  years.  It  was  nice  of  him," 
insisted  Mrs.  Phipps.  "But  I  was  going  to  say,  Hil, 
that  delightful  as  it  all  was,  if  I  had  realized  what 
was  going  to  happen  I  don't  think,  dear,  that  I  would 
have  dared  to  come." 

"I  don't  see  why,"  said  Hilary  unguardedly. 

"Don't  you,  Hil — don't  you?  Can  you  remember 
his  face  when  you  and  he  came  up  to  me,  and  not 
see  why?" 

"Mumsie,  you  are  very  prone  to  exaggeration." 

"That's  what  you  said  when  I  warned  you  about 
Jimenez." 

"Jimenez!"  she  cried  scornfully,  "Henrico  Jim- 
enez was  a  wretched  creature  who  had  lost  more 
money  than  he  could  pay.  The  inquest  showed  that, 
darling.  He  didn't  shoot  himself  for  love  of  me — 
please  don't  say  it,  or  think  it." 

"I  don't  say  it,  and  I  don't  think  it.     I  only  say 

298 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

that  it  was  another  case  where  I  was  told  I  was  very 
prone  to  exaggeration.  Hil,  why  hasn't  he  mar- 
ried?" 

"I  didn't  ask  him,  Mumsie.  Do  you  think  I 
ought?" 

"They  say  nobody  can  understand  it,  and  it's  put 
down  in  some  quarters  to  the  influence  of  that 
Madame  Waldogradoff.  But  I  can't  help  thinking 
he  looks  much  too  nice  and  straight  for  anything 
of  that  sort." 

"Appearances,"  began  Hilary.  "But  I  agree,"  she 
added  with  a  pang.  "Oh,  yes.  He  does.  P.L.M." 
She  traced  with  the  tip  of  her  umbrella  the  letters 
woven  in  the  white  coverings  of  the  couch  backs. 
"Paris,  Lyons,  Marseilles.  I  expected  Lyons  to  be 
warmer,  didn't  you?" 

"Yes.  Hil,  it  was  most  unfortunate  that  I  should 
have  had  one  of  my  heads  yesterday  afternoon.  To 
collapse  that  way  before  he  had  been  five  minutes 
in  the  room " 

"You  couldn't  help  it,  dearest.  It  was  wonderful 
that  you  were  able  to  receive  him  at  all,  considering 
what  your  heads  are.  He  was  very  much  concerned," 
Hilary  said  dreamily. 

"Yes — wasn't  he?  And  so  resourceful.  I  thought 
it  simply  sweet  of  him  to  recommend  his  own  remedy, 
something  he  knew  to  be  good.  And  to  send  the 
equerry  off  for  it  without  a  moment's  delay  like  that." 

299 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Yes,"  Hilary  replied,  turning  her  head  ever  so 
little  aside,  "he  is  resourceful." 

"I  shall  never  forget  his  standing  there  beside  those 
pink  repp  curtains  and  writing  it  himself.  'Neuro- 
tophil.' 'And  if  you  can't  get  it  at  one  chemist's, 
try  another,'  he  said  to  poor  Captain  the  Earl  of 
Man  and  Manx.  Why  Man  and  Manx,  I  wonder. 
Clanking  about  in  all  his  glory  after  neurotophil  for 
me.  For  one  solid  hour,  poor  fellow.  But  I  must 
confess  it  was  worth  it." 

"It  was,  darling,  wasn't  it?"  said  Hilary  innocent- 
ly. "And  let's  hope  he  took  a  taximeter.  What 
shall  we  do  about  the  window?  Can  you  stand  it 
as  much  open  as  that?" 

"Yes,"  said  the  little  lady,  "I  like  it.  So  long  as 
the  door  is  quite  shut.  What  I  cannot  stand  is  the 
awful  smell  of  tobacco  in  the  corridor.  Well,  dar- 
ling, my  conscience  troubles  me — really  hurts — about 
deserting  you  as  I  did." 

"Try  a  little  more  neurotophil,  Mumsie." 

"Ah,  you  may  laugh.  But  when  I  think  that  I'm 
the  only  Mumsie  you've  got — and  that  my  flower 
may  perhaps — may  perhaps  be  planting  herself  in 
a  garden  where  she  can't  grow " 

The  train  was  hurrying  fast  through  the  early  sum- 
mer night.  Outside  the  lights  of  little  towns  passed, 
a  river,  a  bridge.  The  motion  was  violent  and  jar- 
ring; there  was  every  reason  for  looking  out  of  the 

300 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

window,  and  every  difficulty  in  the  way  of  speech. 
For  a  moment  Hilary,  her  hand  still  in  Mrs. 
Phipps's,  took  refuge  in  these  conditions.  Then  she 
gently  withdrew  it,  and  bent  over  her  friend,  and 
kissed  her. 

"Now  that  you  have  said  it,  dearest,  you  will  have 
a  better  night,"  she  said.  "And  here  is  the  what- 
do-you-call-him  to  make  up  our  berths.  If  you  think 
you  can  manage,  I'll  go  and  see  where  Rose  has 
tucked  herself  to  sleep." 

That  was  all  that  passed.  They  arrived  at  Genoa 
next  day.  By  the  time  they  were  settled  in  their  hotel 
Mrs.  Phipps  was  again  threatened  with  the  distress- 
ing headache  which  seemed  to  have  been  only  half 
dispersed  in  Paris.  Hilary  put  her  to  bed  and  sent 
Rose  to  Cook's  for  their  letters.  For  her,  when  Rose 
came  back,  there  was  a  telegram.  It  was  not  un- 
usual. She  and  her  father  were  the  best  correspond- 
ents in  the  world,  but  at  major  moments  they  always 
wired.  Hilary  opened  the  envelope  without  any 
special  heart-beat.  She  had  no  premonition  of  what 
it  was  to  contain.  Purposely,  when  Mrs.  Phipps  had 
carried  her  off  to  Europe  at  three  days'  notice,  Lan- 
chester  had  kept  his  plans  to  himself.  She  was  abso- 
lutely run  down ;  he  was  more  than  thankful  that  she 
wanted  to  go;  and  a  hint  of  what  was  hatching  would 
have  stayed  her,  he  thought.  So  his  message  came 
to  her  at  the  first  time  of  her  life  when  she  was  not 

301 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

thinking  at  all  of  her  father.  It  was  a  word  to  her 
before  his  decision  was  given  to  the  newspapers. 

"Don't  take  a  day  off  Europe  daughter  but  daddy 
is  once  more  out  with  the  boys" — in  the  old  joyous 
jargon  that  they  knew,  he  and  she,  so  well. 

Her  hands,  with  the  paper  in  them,  dropped  in  her 
lap;  and  as  she  gazed  straight  in  front  of  her,  her 

eyes  slowly  filled.  Her  father !  All  this  time She 

pressed  the  slip  with  its  perfunctory  handwriting  to 
her  lips,  and  the  tears  ran  over.  And  he  had  let  her 
go — where  she  wanted  so  much  to  be — and  now  she 
was  thousands  of  miles  away  from  him.  "Don't  take 
a  day  off,"  he  said,  and  had  seen  her  sail,  smiling,  with 
a  cabin  full  of  roses,  and  had  gone  back  alone,  to 
this.  She  knew  all  that  it  had  meant  and  would  mean. 
A  pang  of  disloyalty  assailed  her.  She  had  never 
failed  him  before. 

And  then  a  thought  came,  as  if  the  sun  burst  into 
her  mind,  and  her  eyes  shone  through  their  tears 
in  that  hidden  light  like  any  other  stars. 

If — and  if — and  if No  one  could  say.  No  one 

ought  even  to  think.  But  if She  would  owe  it,  as 

any  royal  princess  would  owe  it — to  her  father. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

MRS.  PHIPPS  would  not  consent  to  Hilary's 
returning  to  America  before  the  end  of 
August.  She  had  got  her  girl,  she  said, 
and  she  meant  to  keep  her.  Mrs.  Phipps  pleaded 
Hilary's  health,  and,  what  was  more  powerful  with 
Hilary,  her  own.  She  thought  herself  over  carefully 
and  could  find  nothing  organic  to  urge,  nevertheless 
the  strain  of  "recent  years,"  Mrs.  Phipps  said,  had 
been  great ;  she  wanted  just  the  rest  Europe  was  giv- 
ing her,  and  Hilary  did  too.  Recent  years  had  done 
something  to  Hilary,  something  a  little  mysterious, 
something  which  her  friend  could  never  quite  catch 
or  determine,  but  which  made  change  of  scene  and 
charm  of  old  palaces  just  as  necessary  for  her  as  for 
Mrs.  Phipps.  There  were  other  grounds  too. 

"My  dear,  we  can't  be  any  manner  of  use  to 
them  at  present.  They  don't  want  us.  In  our 
country  politics  is  the  business  of  the  men.  What 
have  we  to  do  with  drawing  up  a  campaign  against 
the  trusts  and  the  bosses?  No.  Miss  Lanchester, 
traveling  in  Europe  with  Mrs.  James  Phipps  who 

303 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

has  been  more  than  a  mother  to  her  for  many  years, 
is  a  great  deal  the  most  suitable  thing  for  Miss 
Lanchester  to  be  doing  just  now,  while  James  is  hap- 
pily occupied  in  getting  a  solid  convention  for  Henry 
at  St.  Louis." 

"If  you  really  think  that — "  said  Hilary,  weaken- 
ing. 

"My  dear,  you  would  simply  be  in  the  way  among 
the  lot  of  men  he  will  get  round  him  at  Old  Loon 
Lake  this  summer." 

"There's  a  hotel  on  Old  Loon  now,"  said  Hilary 
with  absent  eyes.  "At  Prince's  Portage.  Stage- 
coaches all  the  way  from  Cascade.  All  the  way. 
Oh,  yes,  daddy  will  make  it  his  headquarters  for 
July  and  August  anyway.  And  I'd  love  to  be  with 
him,  though  I  wouldn't  care  to— drive  there  from 
Cascade." 

"He  won't  say  a  word  till  September,  dearie. 
James  didn't.  You  will  be  back  for  his  first  tour 
in  the  West.  And  then  you  will  drive  with  him 
everywhere,  Hil,  and  sit  with  me  in  a  highly  reserved 
box  at  his  meetings.  But  I  don't  see  you  waving  his 
portrait  from  a  gallery.  And  among  the  wolves  on 
the  platform,  darling,  you  don't  go  except  across  your 
Mumsie's  dead  body.  Leave  the  men  to  the  men." 

"I  have,"  said  Hilary,  with  what  her  friend  more 
and  more  often  described  as  a  far-away  look  in  her 
eyes. 

304 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Perhaps,"  she  added,  "it  would  be  easier  over 
here." 

"The  suspense,  you  mean,  dear." 

"Yes — the  suspense." 

So  they  wandered  from  one  old  yellow  town  to 
another  and  Hilary  lived  upon  her  letters,  and  made 
of  sky  and  sea  and  street  and  palace  the  framing  of 
her  dream.  The  statues  in  the  gardens  trooped 
obedient  to  it,  and  when  her  news  was  good,  the 
grapevines  danced.  Always  on  Sundays  she  would 
find  out  the  English  colony's  little  church,  and  kneel 
there  and  listen  to  the  surpliced  chaplain  pray  to 
the  "only  Ruler  of  princes." 

"Most  heartily  we  beseech  Thee  with  Thy  favor 
to  behold  our  most  gracious  Sovereign  Lord,  King 
Alfred  ....  that  he  may  always  incline  to  Thy 
will  and  walk  in  Thy  way.  .  .  ." 

The  first  time  it  seemed  strange,  and  her  mur- 
mured "Amen"  was  as  low  as  a  marriage  vow.  But 
it  soon  became  her  beautiful  and  special  duty;  and 
she  grieved  when  Sunday  found  them  where  no  service 
was.  Mrs.  Phipps  was  a  churchwoman,  too,  and  a 
good  one,  but  she  looked  upon  Hilary's  unfailing  at- 
tendance with — must  it  be  said? — something  like  a 
jealous  eye.  Frankly,  she  confessed  to  herself,  she 
did  not  altogether  understand  it.  In  every  way  to 
be  desired  of  course,  but  Hil  hadn't  that  sort  of 
temperament.  Mrs.  Phipps  worried  a  little  some- 

305 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

times,  seeing  her  start  off  in  the  rain;  and  once  she 
came  back  with  a  cough.  She  was  even  getting  too 
fond,  at  service  time,  of  the  dim  interiors  of  the 
church  of  the  country.  Could  it  all  be  going — dread 
possibility! — to  end  in  something  like  that?  There 
were  times  when  Mrs.  Phipps  condemned  kings  with 
all  the  vivacity  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Their  news  from  home  varied.  At  first  the  an- 
nouncement that  Henry  Lanchester  had  consented 
to  accept  his  party's  nomination  was  received  with 
applause,  wide  and  sincere.  The  country  rejoiced  that 
a  man  so  identified  with  her  best  traditions  should 
again  be  willing  to  take  office,  if  he  could  get  it,  and 
the  sympathetic  press  teemed  with  tributes  to  his  in- 
tellectual honesty,  his  political  acumen,  his  personal 
charm.  But  when  the  clapping  had  died  away,  a  voice 
raised  here  and  there  qualified  the  approval,  pointed 
to  the  "practical  issue."  The  great  practical  issue  was 
of  course  that  the  party  should  elect  its  man,  but  it 
seemed  there  were  others  very  important.  Hints  ap- 
peared that  the  party  managers  were  not  unanimous, 
factions  drew  off,  other  names  were  mentioned,  even 
the  name  of  James  Phipps.  One  day,  after  they  had 
settled  for  the  heat  in  a  villa  at  Como,  Mrs.  Phipps 
had  a  letter  from  her  husband  in  which  he  said, 

"I  expect  you  will  be  as  surprised  as  I  was  to 
know  that  Joe  Amundsen  and  Dimmock  and  Rafferty 
have  been  round  to  ask  what  I  should  have  to  say  to 

306 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  ticket.  I  wasn't  over-polite.  'Well,'  I  said, 
'gentlemen,  I  think  you  ought  to  know  more  about 
me  than  that.  As  to  my  position  I'll  just  tell  you  one 
thing.  Henry  Lanchester  consulted  me  before  he 
agreed  to  run.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned  that's  all 
there  is  to  it.  But  for  your  own  soul's  good  I  may 
tell  you  that  you  never  were  further  out  in  your  lives 
than  in  coming  here  to-day.  Lanchester  can  carry 
New  England.  I  can't.  It  would  take  a  wizard  of 
a  wise  man  to  know  what  the  Middle  West  will  say  to 
him  after  his  putting  foodstuffs  on  the  free  list, 
but  there  I  think  with  him,  and  I'm  not  changing  my 
mind.  Apart  from  that  the  people  prefer  him  to 
me  a  hundred  ways.  Go  home,  gentlemen,'  I  said, 
'and  learn  wisdom' — or  words  to  that  effect." 

But  Mr.  Lanchester's  political  friends  were  not  all 
so  loyal  to  him  as  James  Phipps.  By  the  end  of  July 
it  was  understood  that  at  least  two  other  candidates 
would  seek  nomination  from  the  convention  in  Septem- 
ber. Mrs.  Phipps  and  Hilary,  by  the  Lake  of  Como, 
read  their  names  with  indignation. 

"Who  in  the  world,"  demanded  Hilary,  "is  Bark- 
er Hutchinson  of  Kansas  City.  I  never  heard  of 
him." 

"Nor  I,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps  consolingly.  "But  we 
may  safely  leave  him  to  James,  darling." 

Mrs.  Phipps  was  confident  that  candidates  left  to 
James  would  vanish  like  snow  upon  the  desert's 

30? 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

dusty  face.  But  time  went  on,  and  they  did  not 
vanish.  Lanchester  was  the  party's  official  selection, 
but  rebel  hordes  waved  pennons  and  put  up  leaders, 
and  murmured  among  themselves. 

"Is  it  possible  that  father  would  withdraw?" 
asked  Hilary  with  a  failing  heart. 

"Not  while  he  has  James,"  Mrs.  Phipps  assured 
her. 

Hilary  asked  a  great  many  questions  of  her  friend's 
riper  experience,  because  she  had  a  great  many  to 
answer  in  the  letters  that  arrived,  weekly  now,  from 
England.  Some  of  them  Mrs.  Phipps  was  able  to 
answer  and  some  she  was  not.  She  failed,  for 
instance,  at  all  satisfactorily  to  describe  the  scope  of 
the  President's  powers  in  a  struggle  with  the  Senate, 
or  to  define  his  influence  as  compared  with  that  of  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations. 

"It's  you  who  ought  to  know  these  things,  honey," 
she  declared.  "You  are  much  more  lately  from 
school." 

"I've  never  had  to  know  them,"  she  said.  "I've 
always  had  father." 

"And  I've  always  had  James,"  said  Mrs.  Phipps. 

And  Hilary  had  to  write  and  confess  it,  a  state 
of  things  which  brought  across  to  the  Lake  of  Como 
from  a  bookseller  in  the  Haymarket  three  stout 
volumes,  freely  marked  in  pencil,  among  them 
Bryce's  "American  Commonwealth,"  a  little  out  of 

308 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

date,  but  still  much  recommended  to  inquirers  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Haymarket. 

King  Alfred's  interest  in  American  affairs  had 
been  marked  since  the  day  of  his  accession,  and  was 
natural  enough,  as  the  Princess  Georgina  often  ex- 
plained, since  without  the  aid  of  America  it  was 
doubtful  whether  he  would  have  been  spared  even  to 
ascend  the  throne.  But  it  was  thought  by  many  of 
those  nearest  him  that  some  abatement  of  it  might 
very  well  have  been  shown — at  all  events  some  tem- 
porary abatement — after  the  rejection  at  Washing- 
ton of  the  treaty  on  which  so  much  depended  for  the 
Anglo-Saxon  future.  It  was  thought,  for  instance, 
not  precisely  the  moment  for  His  Majesty  to  be 
dining  as  he  did  before  the  end  of  July,  for  the  sec- 
ond time  in  six  months,  with  the  American  Am- 
bassador. 

"They  were  uppish  enough  before,"  said  the  Prin- 
cess Georgina. 

But  the  King  dined  where  he  would,  and  if  it 
was  his  pleasure  to  partake  of  his  favorite  asparagus 
soup  from  the  gold  plate  of  the  American  embassy, 
with  the  eagle  screaming  at  the  bottom,  there  was 
no  more  to  be  said. 

The  ladies  had  curtseyed  themselves  out,  and  the 
ambassador,  the  Honorable  William  Curtis  Corco- 
ran, in  a  chair  beside  King  Alfred,  had  got  to  the 
end  of  the  probable  effect  of  the  rain  upon  the  young 

309 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

partridges,  when  the  King,  as  the  Ambassador  de- 
scribed it  to  Mrs.  Corcoran  afterwards,  simply  bolted 
into  American  politics. 

"I  am  taking  a  very  deep  interest,  Mr.  Corcoran, 
in  your  coming  presidential  struggle  in  the  autumn." 

"Indeed?"  said  Mr.  Corcoran,  looking  gratified. 
"Well,  sir,  so  am  I.  It  may  mean  a  great  deal  to  me, 
in  a  way  which  I  might  describe  as  personal.  It  may 
mean  my  head." 

"So  much  as  that?"  exclaimed  Alfred.  "Oh,  I 
hope  not.  That  would  mean  too  much  to  me  too, 
Mr.  Corcoran.  I  think,"  he  added  gravely,  "that 
they  gave  you  your  job  the  same  year  they  gave  me 
mine.  I  hope  nobody  will  turn  either  of  us  out." 

The  American  Ambassador  laughed  richly.  He 
was  a  popular  fellow,  a  man  of  the  world,  as  well  as 
of  letters,  and  got  on  excellently  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  though  there  were  publicists  in  his  own  coun- 
try who  said  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  never  flew  in 
London  except  on  the  King's  birthday.  It  was  not 
true. 

"I  should  deplore  either  event,  sir.  But  even  the 
minor  one  gives  me  some  natural  anxiety.  If  the 
other  side  comes  in,  a  lot  of  us  may  have  to  pack. 
Mr.  J.  B.  Thompson  would  have,  more  or  less  im- 
mediately, something  like  six  million  pounds'  worth 
of  places  to  empty;  and  my  country's  devoted  band 
of  ambassadors  would  be  the  first  to  march." 

310 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Six  million  pounds!"  exclaimed  King  Alfred. 
"Appalling!  I'm  thankful  they  don't  ask  me  to 
do  anything  like  that.  Then  you  must  have  studied 
the  situation  very  closely,  Mr.  Corcoran.  Perhaps 
you  can  forecast  the  result." 

The  Ambassador  shifted  in  his  chair. 

"I'm  afraid  I've  been  too  long  away  from  home," 
he  said,  "and  I  never  was  much  in  politics  anyway. 
J.  B.  Thompson  has  a  good  record  as  governor  of 
the  state  of  New  York,  and  his  party  is  standing 
solidly  behind  him.  We've  come  through  a  bad  fi- 
nancial year,  and  there's  a  lot  of  unemployment.  Our 
people  have  had  a  good  many  years  of  office.  All 
that,  of  course,  is  in  favor  of  Mr.  Thompson." 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  the  King,  "it  would  be,  I  suppose. 
But  hasn't  ex-President  Lanchester  a  very  great  hold 
upon  the  country?" 

"Henry  Lanchester  has  been  out  of  practical  poli- 
tics for  eight  years.  That's  a  long  time,  sir.  I  think 
he  will  carry  off  the  nomination  all  right " 

"Oh,  you  do,"  said  King  Alfred,  with  obvious 
relief. 

"Oh,  yes.  His  elimination  would  cost  them  too 
many  votes.  But  I  doubt  whether  Lanchester  can 
win  in  industrial  states  like  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey;  and  of  course,  as  you  know,  sir,  there  are 
certain  foreign  influences,  particularly  strong  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  which  will  be  dead  against  him 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

• 

on  account  of  his  known  attitude  toward  this 
country." 

"Yes,"  said  the  King  smiling.  "We  have  heard 
something  about  that.  I  don't  know,  Mr.  Corcoran, 
what  one  ought  to  wish  politically,  or  whether  one 
ought  to  wish  at  all,  but  I  am  afraid  I  must  confess 
that  this  election  has  a  strong  personal  interest  for 
me.  I  know  Mr.  Lanchester  so  well,  and  admire 
him  so  much " 

"Really,  sir?" 

"Yes — rather!  I  assure  you  he  was  almost  the 
only  friend  I  had  when  I  was  being  patched  up  in 
the  Adirondacks — except  Dr.  Morrow — and  the  best 
one  anybody  could  have.  I  often  feel  that  I  owe  him 
more  than  I  can  ever  repay.  So  of  course " 

"You  want  to  see  him  elected,"  smiled  the  Am- 
bassador, as  the  King  hesitated.  "Well,  so  do  I. 
But  I  am  afraid,  sir,  your  cigar  has  gone  out.  May 
I  offer  you  another?" 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

THE  Ambassador  was  right;  in  the  end  Henry 
Lanchester  received  the  nomination  of  his 
party  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Mrs. 
Phipps  and  his  daughter  heard  of  it  in  mid-Atlantic. 

"What  did  I  tell  you,  honey?"  demanded  Mrs. 
Phipps,  waving  the  marconigram  at  Hilary  in  their 
stateroom.  Did  I  or  did  I  not  say  we  might  leave 
it  to  James?" 

Whether  or  not  it  was  wholly  due  to  James  was 
no  doubt  difficult  in  those  whirling  circumstances  to 
decide  and  now  impossible ;  but  the  fact  remains  that 
the  triumph  was  a  great  and  notable  one,  and 
launched  Mr.  Lanchester  upon  his  campaign  with 
no  overt  disaffection  in  the  ranks  behind  him.  Mrs. 
Phipps  was  true  to  her  promise,  and  gave  Hilary  back 
in  time  to  be  photographed  beside  him  on  the  ob- 
servation platform  of  the  first  special  that  took  him 
touring  about  the  country.  She  was  there  for  her 
full  value,  tall  and  beautiful  and  happily  smiling,  with 
her  hand  on  his  arm,  there  to  be,  as  she  always  had 
been,  his  solace  and  his  delight.  The  gathering,  ap- 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

plauding,  listening  world  was  glad  to  remember  her 
again;  somebody  on  the  reception  committee  always 
had  a  wonderful  bouquet  for  her.  She  was  alone, 
she  was  lovely,  and  it  was  known  that  Lanchester  had 
given  her  the  price  of  the  Silver  Squaw  in  order  that 
he  might  not  be  embarrassed  with  it.  The  public 
agreed  to  the  transfer. 

It  was  a  thing  a  man  might  very  well  do  for  his 
girl;  and  he  heard  little  more  about  it. 

The  issue  was  incalculable.  The  Republicans 
abode  by  their  early  choice  of  ex-Governor  J.  B. 
Thompson,  and  squadrons  of  big  business  gathered 
ominously  behind  him.  There  were  unconfessed  in- 
surgents on  both  sides,  who  would  commit  themselves 
only  in  the  great  silent  vote.  A  superficial  view  de- 
clared that  Thompson  was  a  man  of  business  with  a 
spuare  jaw,  and  that  Lanchester  was  a  happy  optimist 
with  a  long  chin.  Lanchester's  character  was  ex- 
ploited to  his  disadvantage.  He  was  an  idealist, 
had  always  been  an  idealist,  witness  his  unpopular 
friendliness  to  England  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
findings  of  the  Boundaries  Patrol  Commission,  eight 
years  before.  Certainly,  later,  the  Hague  had  up- 
held the  ex-President,  but  such  leanings  were  danger- 
ous; it  would  have  been  more  satisfactory  if  the 
Hague  had  flown  in  his  face.  The  foreign-born  popu- 
lation was  strangely  excited  against  him.  They  had 
an  active  press,  extraordinarily  active,  and  there 

314 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

seemed  to  be  more  money  about  for  electioneering 
purposes  than  could  yet  have  been  acquired  even  by 
the  well-known  industry  of  such  colonists. 

Putting  down  the  Sunday  edition  of  an  unexpected 
convert  to  these  views  one  morning,  Lanchester  said 
to  Hilary, 

"It  begins  to  look  bad  for  the  treaty,  Hil,  even  if 
we  do  get  home." 

She  had  not  to  nsk  which  treaty.  They  had  often 
talked  of  the  fate  of  the  instrument  that  President 
Dickinson  was  lea ,  'ng  in  coma,  and  of  its  chances 
of  coming  back  to  'ife  in  Lanchester's  administra- 
tion. Hilary  knew  her  father's  views  and  they  made 
the  very  tissue  of  her  hopes. 

"Why,  father?" 

"Well,  I  see  they've  pulled  the  Mercury  over. 
I've  been  warned  Truscott  was  shaky.  Let  every 
nation  cast  its  bread  upon  the  waters.  We  used  to 
send  American  dollars  to  Ireland;  now  after  many 
days  we  are  getting  them  back — at  least  I'm  told 
Truscott  is.  No,  it  looks  bad  for  the  treaty." 

"You'll  never  give  it  up,  daddy." 

"I'll  never  give  it  up,  but  I  may  have  to  give  up  the 
hope  of  seeing  it  through  myself,"  said  Lanchester. 
"Which  is  a  merely  personal  consideration  of  course. 
It's  only  a  question  of  time." 

"Even  as  a  personal  consideration,"  said  poor 
Hilary,  "I  think  it  stands  rather  high." 

315 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Then  came  the  "facer"  of  the  stolen  telegram. 
The  day  after,  the  convention  at  St.  Louis  offered 
Henry  Lanchester  to  the  country  as  its  choice  for  the 
presidency.  King  Alfred  of  England  sent  his  warm 
congratulations  and  best  wishes  to  Mr.  Lanchester  by 
cable.  It  was  one  of  those  thoughtless  things  that 
the  King  would  sometimes  do  before  breakfast,  with- 
out consulting  anybody.  It  was  only  natural,  as  he 
said  to  those  who  remonstrated  afterwards,  when  a 
friend  goes  into  a  big  scrimmage,  to  buck  him  up  a 
bit  if  you  can.  And  it  had  that  effect ;  it  gave  pleasure 
to  the  recipient  and  newly  warmed  his  heart  toward 
the  young  King  carrying  the  unsought  burden  of  the 
state  to  which  it  had  pleased  God  to  call  him,  of 
whom  Lanchester  had  often  thought  with  sympathy 
as  the  years  went  on.  There  were  telegrams  from 
many  sorts  of  persons,  and  Lanchester  pinned  them 
all  on  the  wall  above  his  desk;  but  there  was  only 
one  from  a  King,  and  a  morning  came  when  Hilary, 
who  looked  at  it  often,  found  that  it  was  gone. 
Neither  the  floor  nor  the  waste-paper  basket  nor 
the  rubbish  bin  would  reveal  it.  Only  Lanchester 
had  any  clue  at  all,  and  he  but  faintly  remembered 
that  a  telegram  had  fallen  from  the  wall  to  the 
desk  when  he  invited  Sullivan  to  write  a  note  there, 
and  that  Sullivan  had  absent-mindedly  been  pleating 
a  scrap  of  paper  between  his  fingers  as  they  talked. 
They  had  not  long  to  wait,  either  for  the  apostasy 

316 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

of  Sullivan  or  the  appearance  of  the  telegram  in  the 
Mercury.  The  head-lines  were  sickening. 

THE  KING  OF  ENGLAND  ELECTS  HENRY  LANCHESTER 

"We  understand  that  the  Only  Henry,  as  he  girded 
on  his  armor  for  the  fray,  had  the  happiness  of  re- 
ceiving the  following  cable  from  the  young  monarch 
over  the  sea : 

Congratulations  on  your  nomination  and  my  wishes  for  your 
success. — Alfred. 

"They  don't  give  Alfred  R.  much  of  a  say  in  home 
politics;  so  as  he's  an  energetic  young  man  he  is 
taking  an  interest  in  ours,  and  in  the  prospects  of 
England's  best  friend,  Mr.  Lanchester.  Quite  nice 
and  kind  and  right,  Alfie.  One  good  turn  deserves  an- 
other. Will  Henry  Lanchester  deny  that  he  received 
this  telegram?" 

Henry  Lanchester  could  neither  deny  the  telegram 
nor  ignore  the  use  that  had  been  made  of  it.  To  the 
three  party  managers  and  the  publicity  man  who 
were  in  his  library  before  he  had  finished  breakfast 
he  said, 

"My  dear  fellows,  don't  sit  round  like  mutes  at  a 
funeral.  It's  a  knock,  and  Sullivan  deserves  boiling, 
but  I  think  we  can  make  good.  This  is  what  I  pro- 
pose to  publish." 

The  publicity  man  fell  upon  the  typewritten  slip. 

317 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"The  Associated  Press  is  authorized  to  say  that 
the  version  of  a  private  telegram  stolen  from  Mr. 
Lanchester's  desk,  as  reproduced  in  the  New  York 
Mercury,  is  incorrect.  The  text  of  the  telegram  runs 
as  follows: 

Warm  congratulations  on  your  nomination  and  best  wishes 
for  your  success. — Alfred  R. 

"The  telegram  was  one  of  many  from  personal 
friends,  and  Mr.  Lanchester  regrets  that  the  rat  who 
sold  it  to  the  Mercury  had  not  intelligence  enough  to 
copy  it  correctly." 

His  advisers  demurred,  but  Lanchester  insisted. 

"It  will  be  ten  times  as  damaging  if  I  look  ashamed 
of  it,"  he  said,  and  the  event  justified  him.  The 
uproar  was  tremendous,  but  when  it  had  died  down 
it  was  not  altogether  certain  that  "Young  Alfred's" 
interest  in  his  friend's  election  was  altogether  un- 
pleasing  to  the  country.  Of  course  neither  Lan- 
chester nor  any  other  American  had  the  right  to  be 
on  such  terms  with  a  King.  On  the  other  hand,  as 
the  stalwarts  pointed  out,  such  a  view  as  that  was 
undoubtedly  hard  on  the  King.  And  in  any  case  it 
was  generally  admitted  to  be  commendable  that  Lan- 
chester hadn't  "turned  Alfred  down." 

But  the  other  side  made  the  most  of  it,  and  it 
seemed  to  barb  the  arrows  of  J.  B.  Thompson  when 
he  told  thousands  of  people, 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Lanchester  is  a  dictator,  and  if  you  re-elect  him 
to  the  presidency  of  this  country  you  will  never  get  rid 
of  him.  He  will  cling  to  office  till  the  day  of  his 
death." 

There  were  many  who  saw  it  like  that. 

But  through  it  all  "daughter  Hilary"  was  tire- 
less and  undaunted.  Her  pulse  throbbed  with  her 
father's.  She  knew  every  line  of  his  face,  and  daily 
read  the  writing  there  of  hope  or  of  depression, 
carefully  as  he  tried  to  hide  from  her  the  tale  of  the 
campaign  when  it  bore  against  them.  The  news- 
papers counted  the  tucks  on  her  skirts,  and  tried  to 
lift  her  into  the  sphere  of  opinions.  But  for  the 
ladies  who  came  to  interview  her  she  had  only  one 
pleasant  word. 

"I  know  very  little  about  politics,  but  I  want  my 
father  to  win  because  I  believe  in  him" 

Nevertheless  it  gave  their  friends  a  watchword, 
and  they  used  it.  J.  B.  Thompson,  gray  and  arid 
and  certainly  blameless,  was  running  rather  as  the 
chemical  reaction  of  certain  measures  might  run. 
His  worst  enemy  couldn't  call  him  very  human.  No- 
body particularly  and  personally  believed  in  J.  B. 
Thompson,  unless  it  was  his  wife.  But  the  en- 
thusiasm of  his  party,  when  the  sediment  had  drained 
off,  was  all  for  Lanchester  the  man. 

It  was  a  fluffy,  foamy,  noisy  campaign  beyond  the 
common,  but  under  it  the  people  were  thinking  all 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

the  time,  thinking  not  only  of  desiderata  like  economy 
and  efficiency,  but  of  such  fundamental  things  as 
probity  at  home  and  honor  abroad.  And  when  the 
day  of  decision  came,  because  he  seemed  to  give  these 
matters  a  suitable  place  among  his  country's  ambi- 
tions for  the  next  four  years,  they  elected  Henry 
Lanchester. 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

BUT,    daddy,"   remonstrated     Hilary,    "they're 
absolutely  as  good  as  new." 

They  were  in  the  Blue  Room  in  the  course 
of  a  tour  through  the  White  House,  planning  how 
the  appropriation  for  up-keep  should  be  spent.  It 
seemed  to  the  President  that  the  damask  furnishings 
of  that  state  apartment  might  be  replaced  with  ad- 
vantage. "I  don't  like  the  pattern,"  he  said. 

"Don't  you?  Dear  Mumsie  Phipps  chose  it;  I 
helped  her,"  remarked  Hilary  pensively. 

"Oh,  well,  if  we  are  going  to  be  sentimental! 
Perhaps  underneath  we  should  find  one  that  I  chose 
myself,"  retorted  Mr.  Lanchester.  "What  about 
the  curtains,  Hil?" 

"They  seem  perfectly  fresh." 

"Another  disappointment!  A  new  carpet  any- 
way." 

"I  suppose  we  ought  to  have  a  new  carpet," 
Hilary  agreed.  "We  might  try  for  the  same  color." 

"Now  here,"  said  the  President,  as  they  entered 
the  ballroom,  "we  can  revel.  Those  tapestry  panels, 

321 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Hil — really,  you  know;  and  such  archaic,  preten- 
tious, frivolous  things  as  these;  quite  unsuited  to  a 
democratic  country.  To  the  lumber  room  with 
them!" 

"Those  two  little  gold  chairs — you  would  banish 
them!  Indeed,  Mr..  President,  you  sha'n't.  I  love 
those  little  gold  chairs,"  cried  Hilary.  "I  don't  care 
about  the  tapestries ;  the  Dickinsons  put  them  up  and 
they're  hideous;  but  the  dear  Phippses  sat  on  those 
chairs,  father." 

"Then  they  must  need  overhauling  at  least,"  said 
her  parent  firmly.  "But,  Hil,  this  is  depressing,  you 
know.  I  had  hoped  to  be  led  into  a  perfect  debauch 
of  extravagance,  to  be  obliged  to  remind  you  that 
you  were  spending  the  people's  money;  and  you 
round  on  me  like  this." 

"I  rather  like  keeping  things  as  they  were.  I've  so 
much  looked  forward  to  seeing  them  again,  dad — as 
they  were.  It's  a  darling,  beautiful  ballroom.  But 
those  Dickinson  panels  shall  be  razed  to  the  ground; 
then  it  will  be  almost  quite  as  it  was." 

"Well,"  said  the  President,  looking  at  his  watch, 
"I  must  be  thinking  of  earning  my  living.  Temple- 
ton  is  coming  at  ten." 

Templeton  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations. 

"Father,  is  he — going  to  talk  about  the  treaty?" 

"I  think  he  is  going  to  talk  chiefly  about  the  claims 

322 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

of  his  son-in-law  to  be  consul-general  at  Paris,"  said 
her  father;  "but  he  may  have  something  to  say 
about  the  treaty  if  I  encourage  him  to  do  so.  He'll 
need  some  encouragement.  The  treaty  is  very  sound 
asleep,  daughter." 

"Well,  encourage  him.  You  might  give  him  the 
consul-generalship  for  his  son-in-law  and  then  encour- 
age him,"  said  the  unscrupulous  Hilary.  "You  know 
I  consider,  dad,  that  the  country  has  sent  you  here 
to  put  that  treaty  through.  It's  the  only  conclusion 
anybody  could  come  to." 

"Is  it?"  said  her  father  grimly.  "My  lamb,  if 
the  treaty  had  been  an  active  issue  I'm  afraid  we 
shouldn't  be  here." 

"But  you  have  always  said  the  people  wanted  it." 

"They  don't  want  it  at  election  time;  and  a  few 
friends  have  managed  to  make  me  look  rather  too 
nice  in  a  court  suit,  Hil.  Any  sort  of  treaty  sticking 
out  of  the  pocket " 

"Court  suits,"  interrupted  Hilary,  "have  no  pock- 
ets— on  the  outside  anyway.  You  are  given  buckles 
on  your  shoes  and  a  sword  instead;  black  velvet  you 
wear,  and  a  cocked  hat.  And  you  carry  it  up  your 
sleeve." 

"The  hat?" 

"No;  that  is  worn  under  the  arm.  Your  hand- 
kerchief, of  course." 

Her   father   faced   round   upon   her.      "Do  you 

323 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

know,"  he  asked  severely,  "that  New  York's  greatest 
newspaper  to-day  called  you  the  Daughter  of  the 
Democracy — I  omit  the  adjective;  you  are  quite  vain 
enough  as  it  is — you,  who  this  morning  instruct  your 
father  as  to  the  correct  pocket  in  which  to  carry  his 
hat  when  he  goes  to  court?  How  does  a  girl  know 
these  things!  I  am  forced  to  believe,  Hilary,  that 
you  have  somewhere  about  you  the  makings  of  an 
anglomaniac." 

They  had  reached  the  door  of  the  library.  A 
messenger  passed  them  with  the  bag  from  the  post- 
office  on  his  way  to  the  secretary's  room.  Hilary, 
with  her  eyes  on  the  bag,  forgot  to  laugh  at  her 
father's  pleasantry.  The  English  mail  should  be 
there,  an  English  mail  for  which,  ever  since  the  last, 
Hilary's  heart  had  been  ticking  with  the  clock. 

"May  I  come  in  and  get  my  letters?"  she  asked 
nervously. 

"Do,"  said  he.  "Read  them  here,  if  you  like. 
I'm  taking  it  easy  this  morning.  Nobody  before 
Templeton." 

Henry  Lanchester's  lean  person  slipped  comfort- 
ably into  the  revolving  chair  in  which  he  had  written 
his  last  letter  from  the  White  House  eight  years 
before,  and  which  he  was  occupying  again  with,  if 
anything,  a  deeper  sense  of  responsibility  and  a  wider 
perception  of  power.  He  took  from  the  top  of  a 
pile  a  letter  with  a  red  tag  and  began  to  read  it.  A 

324 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

slip  hung  from  the  letter,  upon  which  fluttered  plain 
in  the  handwriting  of  the  President's  private  secre- 
tary the  words,  "and  advances  this  argument." 
Hilary  walked  to  the  window,  wondering  who  ad- 
vanced the  argument  and  what  it  was,  and  whether 
it  would  greatly  affect  her  father's  mind  upon  the 
resuscitation  of  the  treaty  of  arbitration  and  alliance 
with  England.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  had  to  do  with 
an  American  railway  loan  to  China ;  but  Hilary  just 
now  had  only  one  formula  for  the  foreign  business 
of  her  country. 

The  stenographer  came  in,  learned  that  he  would 
not  be  wanted  until  twelve,  and  withdrew.  Spring 
scents  drifted  through  the  open  window;  down  on 
the  lawn  a  fat  robin  hopped  among  the  fallen  blos- 
soms of  a  big  horse-chestnut  tree.  Hilary  stood 
looking  at  him.  He  hopped  across  a  wider  prospect 
than  the  White  House  lawn,  a  far,  frightening  pros- 
pect. Hilary  would  not  see  it;  she  was  glad  to 
watch  the  robin  instead.  It  was  likely,  more  than 
likely,  to  be  for  to-day.  Her  last  letter  had  given 
her  full  warning.  Sitting  there  in  his  chair,  all  un- 
prepared and  unaware,  her  father  would  presently 
be  confronted  by  their  great,  their  overwhelming 
secret,  would  become  a  party  to  it,  not  only  as  her 
father,  but  as  President  of  the  United  States.  And 
already  he  had  so  much  to  think  of,  her  dear  old 
dad,  already  from  morning  to  night  he  was  followed 

325 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

by  such  a  herd  of  contingencies.  And  now  she — 
Hilary — who  had  always  tried  to  spare  him,  must 
bring  him,  in  her  very  hand,  truly  the  most  dumb- 
foundering  situation  of  them  all.  Desperately  sorry 
for  her  father  she  felt,  as  her  glance  stole  over  his 
lined  face — just  desperately  sorry.  The  robin  flew 
away.  Vacancy  on  the  lawn.  Nothing  to  look  at 
but  the  Prospect.  How  long  they  were  taking  in 
the  Secretary's  office  in  sorting  out  their  private 
letters ! 

Presently  Secretary  Kennedy  himself  appeared  at 
the  door  and,  seeing  her,  retreated.  Her  heart  came 
into  her  throat.  Could  it  be  that  Alfred  had  written 
to  her  father  and  forgotten  to  put  "Private"  on  the 
envelope?  Could  it  be  that  Kennedy  already  knew? 
No,  she  told  herself  with  a  frightened  flash  of  laugh- 
ter, Kennedy  would  have  fainted  at  the  door. 

The  President  put  down  the  tagged  letter,  and 
took  up  his  notebook,  a  thick,  portentous  notebook 
bound  in  leather.  There  would  be  time  to  enter  the 
main  points  of  his  reply. 

But  his  daughter  Hilary,  usually  so  tranquil  in 
her  movements,  so  still  in  her  repose,  and  this  morn- 
ing restless  as  a  canary,  dropped  into  a  chair  at  his 
side. 

"Father,  dear,  isn't  it  very  desirable — that  Mr. 
Templeton  should  know — just  how  strongly  you  feel 
about  this  question  of  the  treaty?" 

326 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Desirable  from  whose  point  of  view — Temple- 
ton's,  the  Senate's,  the  country's,  or  mine?" 

"From — from  everybody's,"  floundered  Hilary. 

Her  father  regarded  her  gravely.  "My  dear,  I 
can't  help  thinking  that  you  are  a  little  obsessed  by 
that  matter,"  he  said.  "Why  worry  about  it?  Not 
good  for  you,  my  girl !  Go  and  ring  up  Kitty  Ken- 
nedy, and  get  her  to  play  golf  with  you." 

Go  and  play  golf  with  Kitty  Kennedy,  and  leave 
the  President  perhaps  to  commit  himself  to  the  view 
that  the  treaty  with  England  might  be  consigned 
indefinitely  to  the  limbo  of  Utopian  politics! 

"Yes,  dad,  I  will.  But  do  tell  me — have  you  set- 
tled in  your  own  mind  your  line  about  the  treaty?" 

"My  line  is,  Hil,  and  always  has  been,  that  that 
instrument,  when  it  is  made  effective,  will  be  the  ab- 
solute political  insurance  of  every  nation  that  uses 
the  English  language,  and  the  greatest  power  for 
good  on  earth.  We  know  that  in  one  very  simple 
way — by  the  character  of  the  opposition  it  excites. 
My  line  is,  and  always  has  been,  that  it's  the  greatest 
political  cause  in  the  world.  By  whether — ah,  here's 
the  mail!" 

Hilary  sat  motionless,  mesmerized  by  the  little 
pile  on  the  desk.  It  was  there — the  big  square  en- 
velope in  the  handwriting  she  knew  so  well!  Her 
eyes  followed  it  helplessly  as  her  father  took  it  up 
and  broke  the  seal. 

32? 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"Three  for  you,  Hil.  What  a  fat  one  from  West- 
minster! If  you  were  a  political  young  woman  I 
should  think  you  were  corresponding  with  His  Maj- 
esty's House  of  Commons  with  a  view  to  pulling  off 
that  treaty.  Hullo!  here's  a  letter  from  His  Maj- 
esty himself.  On  the  whole  I'm  glad  he's  got  out 
of  the  habit  of  using  the  cable." 

Hilary,  with  a  hand  that  dragged  a  little,  picked 
up  her  letters.  She  looked  at  the  door  and  longed 
to  get  upon  her  feet  and  go — to  any  spot  where  there 
were  neither  kings  nor  presidents;  her  own  room 
would  be  the  perfect  place.  But  she  could  not  leave 
her  father  alone  with  the  news  in  that  letter. 
Neither  could  she  sit  still  so  near  him  while  he  read 
it.  He  had  put  it  down  for  an  instant  to  rub  up  his 
glasses.  They  would  need  rubbing  up !  Hilary  rose 
and  walked  casually,  tremblingly,  over  to  the  win- 
dow, where  she  opened  her  own  thick  letter  with  the 
Westminster  postmark. 

"You'll  be  interested  in  this,  Hil." 

She  would  be  interested  in  it! 

She  had  opened  the  fat  letter  from  Westminster, 
and  it  was  shaking  in  her  hand. 

"It's  really  a  charming  letter;  he  seems  genuinely 
pleased.  You  must  read  it.  But  don't  leave  it  lying 
about.  He  sends  kind  remembrances  to  Mrs.  Phipps. 
Odd  that  there's  no  message  for  you.  I  suppose 
little  girls  don't  exist  officially  over  there.  Well, 

328 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

I'm  about  due  at  the  offices.  I  mustn't  keep  Temple- 
ton  waiting." 

"Father!" 

"Yes,  Hil?  What  is  it?  You  know  you  mustn't 
keep  me  now,  dear;  I'm " 

"It  isn't  odd — that  there's  no  message,  father. 
I've — I've  heard  myself." 

"Have  you,  girlie?    Well,  that's  all  right." 

"And — and  there's  another  letter  for  you,  father. 
Here  it  is." 

She  held  it  out  to  him  at  arm's  length  clinging  to 
the  window.  They  had  kept  the  bond  between  them, 
Alfred  and  she ;  he  was  to  tell  her  father,  but  at  her 
good  time  and  pleasure.  This  was  his  way  of  find- 
ing out  what  her  good  time  and  pleasure  were.  And 
partly  because  of  her  fears  for  the  treaty,  but  chiefly 
because  her  heart  refused  to  bear  its  burden  any 
longer,  she  had  brought  herself  to  the  decision  that 
the  moment  must  be  now. 

She  stood  holding  the  letter  out  and  shrinking 
against  the  window  recess.  Lanchester  crossed  over 
to  take  it,  looking  at  her  through  his  glasses  rather 
humorously.  "Why,  it  isn't  so  exciting  as  that,  is 
it?"  he  smiled,  and  stowed  the  letter  in  his  breast 
pocket.  "I'll  read  it  when  I  come  back?" 

But  she  had  her  arms  round  his  neck.  "No,  no, 
father;  no,  no!  It  is — rather  exciting.  You  must 
read  it  now — you  must!  I " 

329 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

He  saw  with  amazement  that  her  eyes  were  shut 
and  that  tears  were  raining  down  her  face.  She 
clung  to  him  so,  struggling  with  great  sobs,  but  in- 
sistent— insistent  about  something.  "Why,  daugh- 
ter," he  said  with  tenderness,  and  put  his  arm  around 
her  and  put  her  into  a  chair.  There  he  stood  help- 
lessly, patting  her  shoulder.  "Why,  daughter, 
what — "  As  she  did  not  speak  again — he  saw,  in- 
deed, that  she  could  not — he  took  the  letter  out  of 
his  pocket.  "Why,  certainly,  dear;  I'll  read  it  now, 
if  you  wish  me  to." 

As  he  opened  it  Henry  Lanchester  had  a  flash  of 
remembrance  that  it  was  a  young  man  as  well  as  the 
King  of  England  who  thus  addressed  him,  a  little 
oddly,  through  his  daughter.  Unfolding  the  pages, 
he  sent  an  austere  glance  over  his  spectacles  out  of 
the  window;  but  there  was  no  counsel  among  the 
tree  tops.  He  looked  again  at  Hilary.  She  had 
hidden  her  face.  A  sudden  apprehension  beset  him; 
there  was  romance  here.  Romance,  without  leave, 
filled  the  room — threatened,  as  he  looked  at  Hilary, 
to  fill  his  heart.  But  how  could  a  King  of  England 
bring  romance  to  his  house?  There  was  none  to 
abide  that  question.  He  drew  a  chair  near  to 
Hilary's,  took  it,  and  plunged  into  the  letter. 

As  he  turned  the  first  page  he  put  out  his  hand 
toward  his  daughter  and  Hilary's  crept  into  it,  and 
that  was  the  only  movement  he  made  till  the  end. 

330 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

He  read  the  last  page  twice,  and  still  no  sign.  Then 
carefully  he  read  the  letter  over  again.  Hilary,  not 
daring  to  look,  felt  her  heart  beat  to  a  slower  meas- 
ure. If  she  could  have  believed  it  would  be  as  quiet 
as  this!  If  she  could  have  thought  that  this,  only 
this,  was  to  be  the  scene  of  her  forebodings!  Still 
her  father  made  no  movement,  except  to  fold  the 
letter,  and  when  he  spoke  his  words  did  not  seem 
altogether  for  her. 

"Dear  fellow,"  he  said.  "Dear  fellow."  And 
after  a  moment — "It's  the  boy  in  the  Adirondacks, 
Hil — it's  just  the  boy  in  the  Adirondacks,  come  to 
great  estate.  We  loved  him  there,  didn't  we?  I 
loved  him  there,  too,  daughter.  And  now — this 
seems  either  just  a  pretty  fairy  tale  or  a  very  serious 
matter  indeed.  But  he's  a  dear  fellow,  girlie." 

He  was  stroking  her  hand  now. 

Hilary  sobbed,  and  in  an  instant  she  was  in  her 
father's  lap  with  her  arms  around  his  neck.  "Yes, 
he  isj  isn't  he,  daddy?  Oh,  he  is!  And  it — has  been 
— so  awfully  lonely  for  him,  daddy — all  these  years ! 
Awfully  lonely — you  know." 

"Yes,  yes,  dear." 

"Hasn't — hasn't — hasn't  it,  father?" 

"Of  course  it  has,  my  dear.    Yes,  yes;  of  course!" 

"And  he — he  isn't  strong — father." 

"No,  dear;  not  very  strong,  I'm  afraid;  but  pretty 
well,  isn't  he,  nowadays?"  He  was  stroking  her 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

hair,  but  she  had  not  yet  looked  up.  "Wonderfully 
well,  from  all  I  hear;  and  everything  on  his  side,  my 
dear — youth,  hope,  and  you!  Think  of  your  old 
crock  of  a  father,  and  what  a  giant  you  and  the 
doctors  have  made  even  of  him." 

The  girl's  arm  crept  closer  about  Lanchester's 
thin  neck  and  a  wet  kiss  brushed  his  cheek.  "Father, 
I  want  to — I  should  like  to — take  care  of  him  now. 
Don't  you  think  I  might?  Don't  you  think  I  ought? 
No  matter  what — "  She  had  lifted  her  head 
and  was  looking  at  him  at  last  with  her  brave  ques- 
tion. 

Half  unconsciously  he  took  her  hands  from  about 
his  neck,  as  if  he  restored  her  to  herself.  "There's 
only  one  answer  to  that,  daughter.  If  you  ought, 
you  may — no  matter  what.  And  I  suppose — I  sup- 
pose I  shouldn't  be  expected  to  grudge  you."  His 
smile  had  just  that  hint  of  winter  in  it  which  comes 
in  the  smile  of  any  father  who  is  asked  by  anybody 
on  earth  for  all  that  he  has.  "And  now  we  must 
think,"  he  added. 

At  that  she  started  up.  "Oh,  yes,  father,  you 
must  think!"  Hope  showed  behind  her  wet  lashes. 
She  pulled  a  chair  nearer  and  sat  down,  clasping  her 
knees  and  bending  toward  him  a  face  that  was  still 
very  pitiful.  "And  oh,  daddy  darling,"  she  told 
him,  "if  you  could  realize  the  blessed  comfort  it  is 
that  at  last  you  know" 

332 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  expect  it  is,  daughter,"  he  said.  "These  secret 
affairs  are  always  wearing." 

"And  this  was  more  wearing  than  most,"  Hilary 
said  humbly. 

"Naturally,     daughter;    that    must    have    been 


so." 


"It  was  a  thoughtless  thing  to  do — what  we  did, 
daddy.  But  if  you  knew  how  he  hated  the  idea  of 
Sophy  Sternburg.  And  Heaven  knows  we  meant  to 
live  on  a  farm." 

"You  didn't  know,  you  couldn't  have  known,  at 
all  what  you  were  doing,  either  of  you,"  the  Presi- 
dent told  her. 

Silence  came  between  them  for  a  moment,  and 
with  it  came  great  considerations  and  stood  in  the 
room.  Henry  Lanchester's  eye,  looking  over  his 
daughter's  head,  grew  suddenly  bright.  He  took  a 
long  breath,  as  if  to  make  room  in  his  heart  for 
some  familiar  vision  new  come  home.  He  sat  quietly 
so  for  a  little,  the  stain  deepening  among  the  fur- 
rows of  his  cheek,  looking  again  and  again  at  the 
letter;  but  a  word  escaped  him  before  he  began  to 
question  her  which  showed  what  thought  was  riding 
on  his  blood. 

"England  .  .  ."  he  said  musingly.  "England 
rocked  our  cradles,  Hil,  over  here.  Yes.  And  de- 
fended them." 

Then  he  asked  her  for  a  detail  here  and  a  detail 

333 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

there,  though  there  was  little  more  that  she  could 
tell  him.  Alfred  had  sent  a  scrupulous  chronicle. 

"He  writes  very  sensibly.  He  presses  for  the 
treaty  if  possible  before  the  marriage.  He  thinks 
that  it  would  be  more  difficult  afterwards.  He  is 
right.  It  would  be." 

"Then  you  —  don't  think  our  marrying  —  alto- 
gether impracticable,  father?" 

"How  can  it  be  impracticable  when  it  is  already 
done?"  The  President  swung  round  upon  her. 
"We  have  not  to  consider  its  practicability,  thank 
Heaven !  Nor  do  I  feel  altogether  disposed,"  he  went 
on,  "to  think  too  much  of  that  side  of  it.  It's  true 
he's  a  king,  but  you,  little  one,  are  not  precisely,"  he 
smiled  at  her,  "a  beggar  maid." 

"You  mean  the  Silver  Squaw,"  she  ventured. 

"No,"  he  answered  absently,  "I  don't  mean  the 
Silver  Squaw." 

The  matter  seemed  to  grow,  there  in  the  room, 
too  momentous  to  be  discussed.  Their  talk  was  like 
the  flying  and  settling  of  harbor  birds  about  some 
great  ship  moving  slowly,  disregardingly  into  port. 
The  President,  at  all  events,  seemed  to  feel  it  so. 
He  lapsed  again  into  silence,  and  his  face  began  to 
wear  the  impersonal  look  with  which  he  fronted 
heavy  affairs  of  all  kinds.  He  hardly  looked  at 
Hilary,  so  detached,  so  busily  constructive  was  the 
gleam  in  his  eyes.  It  was  as  if,  having  lighted  that 

334 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

torch,  she  might  as  well  go  out  of  the  room.  She 
could  not  long  bear,  poor  Hilary,  to  be  so  lost,  being 
new  to  the  part  of  a  bride  blessed  by  politics,  though 
not,  in  her  happy  case,  by  politics  only.  She  sat 
through  another  moment  and  then  got  up  a  little 
unsteadily. 

"I  know,  father,  it's  awfully  important.  Don't 
think  I  don't  know.  And  you  are  President,  and 
Alfred  is  King,  and  of  course  you  both  want  the 
treaty  above  everything  on  earth.  But,  father" — 
her  voice  quivered  and  broke — "I'm  me!" 

With  quick  compunction*  the  President  came  over 
to  her,  and  put  his  arm  about  her,  and  kissed  her. 
"Ah,  my  dear,"  he  said,  "what  should  any  of  us  do 
without  you?"  Then  he  held  her  at  arm's  length, 
proudly,  for  an  instant,  and  looked  her  up  and  down. 
"And  how  long  am  I  to  have  for  the  treaty?"  he 
asked. 

"I  thought  about  six  weeks.  Alfred  says  he  won't 
keep  you  waiting,"  she  told  him  happily. 

"Alfred!  Six  weeks!"  exclaimed  the  President 
with  a  glorious  laugh.  "I  wish  he  had  some  of  my 
committees.  You  will  give  me  a  year,  please,  Your 
Majesties.  Yes,  perhaps — in  a  year " 

A  moment  or  two  later  the  telephone  bell  on  the 
private  secretary's  desk  rang  sharply,  and  Mr.  Ken- 
nedy received  a  message.  The  President  much  re- 
gretted that  unforeseen  circumstances  would  prevent 

335 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

his  keeping  his  appointment  with  Mr.  Templeton  that 
morning.  Would  Mr.  Kennedy  kindly  make  a  per- 
sonal explanation,  please,  and  postpone  the  interview 
to  the  President's  earliest  possible  free  hour  next 
week?  Would  Mr.  Kennedy  kindly  make  a  point  in 
the  meantime  of  looking  up  the  docket  of  the  Anglo- 
American  Arbitration  Treaty  of  the  year  before, 
with  the  particulars  of  the  vote  in  the  Senate  on 
Article  III,  the  particulars  of  the  vote  on  the  aliens' 
amendment,  "and  any  other  old  particulars" — there 
was  an  extraordinary  ring  in  the  President's  voice, 
Kennedy  thought — that  might  be  available  ? 

"So  he's  going  to  have  a  shot  at  it,"  Kennedy  said 
to  himself  with  the  receiver  in  his  hand.  "Well,  he's 
the  only  man  in  these  United  States  that  can  make 
it  politics,  and  as  the  other  side  is  pretty  well  bound 
to  come  in  next  time  anyhow " 

Then  from  the  instrument  came  the  small,  serious 
sound  of  words  not  intended  for  the  secretary's  ear: 
" This  makes  a  very  great  difference,  Hilary" 

"Wonderful  influence  that  girl  has  with  him,"  ob- 
served Mr.  Kennedy  to  himself. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

ON  a  dripping  morning  in  April  a  year  later, 
three  people  of  importance  drove,  one  after 
another,  to  the  north  door  of  Buckingham 
Palace  and  were  there  discharged  and  received. 
Lord  Caversham,  of  Bury,  the  Prime  Minister,  was 
the  first  to  arrive  in  his  motor,  enter  the  lift  and 
be  taken  by  a  tall  young  man  in  uniform  to  the  room 
in  which  the  King  usually  gave  non-ceremonial  audi- 
ences. Then  rolled  up  the  carriage  of  the  Princess 
Georgina,  Duchess  of  Altenburg,  the  cockades  of 
her  coachman  and  footman  all  diamonded  by  the 
rain.  She  in  turn  ascended  in  the  lift,  and  went 
along  the  corridor  chatting  with  the  young  man  in 
uniform,  and  was  launched  into  the  presence  of  the 
Prime  Minister,  to  whom  she  almost  curtsied  by  mis- 
take. Last  and  almost  late,  Sir  Bute  Rivers,  For- 
eign Secretary,  hurried  in  out  of  a  taxi,  bringing  a 
despatch-box,  of  which  the  young  man  in  uniform 
relieved  him,  as  he,  too,  was  conducted  to  the  room 
where  chairs  near  the  table  were  already  occupied 
by  the  Prime  Minister  and  the  Princess  Georgina. 

337 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

They  spoke  about  the  weather,  disguising,  as  such 
great  people  have  learned  to  disguise  it,  their  inter- 
est in  anything  more  unusual  than  the  way  it  had 
poured  in  the  night  and  thundered  before  breakfast. 
Only  the  eyes  of  the  Princess,  wandering  circum- 
spectly about  the  room,  rested  at  length,  thoughtful- 
ly, upon  the  despatch-box  on  the  table. 

A  moment  later  another  equerry  entered.  "His 
Majesty  the  King,"  he  said,  and  Alfred  walked  into 
the  room. 

His  subjects  rose  to  take  his  pleasure,  and  waited, 
with  a  wonderful  grave  deference  of  attitude  and  of 
glance,  the  approach  of  the  slight  figure.  Who  shall 
speak  of  that  gesture  of  the  heart  toward  the  King? 
Very  boyish  still,  he  came  to  meet  them,  confident 
of  their  tenderness  and  their  homage,  for  a  thou- 
sand years  the  symbol  of  their  race.  .  .  .  And 
as  they  looked  at  him  there  out  of  their  lined 
faces,  wrapped  in  their  own  interests  and  con- 
ventions and  personalities  as  they  were,  he  was 
more  than  life  to  any  one  of  them.  Which  was 
no  new  thing  either,  but  as  it  had  been  for  a  thou- 
sand years. 

In  response  to  his  aunt's  curtsey  Alfred  kissed  her, 
shook  hands  cordially  with  his  ministers,  and  said  to 
Sir  Bute  Rivers:  "Have  you  brought  it?" 

"Corcoran  ratified  yesterday  afternoon,  sir,"  said 

338 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  Foreign  Secretary,  unlocking  the  despatch-box. 
"The  ink  is  hardly  dry,"  he  smiled,  and  unfolded  a 
document. 

The  King  glanced  at  the  signatures. 

"I  congratulate  you,  Sir  Bute,"  he  said;  and  then 
to  them  all:  "Pray  sit  down." 

He  himself  took  the  high-backed  chair  at  the  end 
of  the  table,  facing  the  door.  Lord  Caversham,  the 
picture  of  genial  influence,  sat  at  his  right;  the  Prin- 
cess Georgina  placed  herself  affectionately  at  his  left; 
the  Foreign  Secretary  drew  a  chair  under  the  lean 
and  acute  personality  that  belonged  to  him  in  line 
with  hers.  The  despatch-box  lay  on  the  table;  and 
the  treaty  of  arbitration  and  alliance  between  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  of  America  lay  in  the 
despatch-box. 

The  Princess  said  to  herself  that  the  King  was 
looking  better  than  he  had  done  for  months.  Never- 
theless  she  took  in  certain  signs  in  his  general  bear- 
ing with  some  anxiety.  "He  is  going  to  be  difficult," 
she  murmured  to  herself.  "Whatever  it  is,  he  is 
going  to  be  difficult."  She  pulled  the  black  veil, 
raised  to  receive  her  nephew's  salute,  firmly  down 
to  her  chin  and  sat  up  very  straight.  Lord  Caver- 
sham  put  one  finger  in  his  waistcoat  pocket.  Sir  Bute 
Rivers  swung  a  leg. 

"I  have  asked  you  three  to  come  here  informally 
like  this,"  Alfred  began,  "because  I  have  something 

339 


]HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

to  communicate  which  I  think  you  three  ought  to  be 
the  first  to  know." 

A  tremor  passed  through  the  hand  and  wrist 
which  the  Princess  Georgina  had  laid,  in  its  black 
kid  glove,  on  the  table.  Her  worst  suspicion,  a  ter- 
rible foe  to  her  peace,  flashed  through  her.  Alfred 
had  not  married  in  order  the  more  conveniently,  at 
the  first  propitious  moment,  to  abdicate.  Was  the 
crown,  then,  at  last  to  be  thrown  to  the  demagogues? 
Louder  than  ever  they  were  howling,  the  dema- 
gogues, in  the  reign  of  King  Alfred  the  Second.  She 
did  not  dare  to  glance  at  the  Prime  Minister,  who 
was  giving  his  sovereign  a  pleased  and  confident  at- 
tention. Bute  Rivers  looked  at  the  inkstand  on  the 
table. 

"You,  Princess,  are  my  nearest  relative.  You, 
Caversham,  stand  to  me  for  the  country;  you,  Sir 
Bute,  for  everything  outside  it.  That's  why  I've  got 
you  together  like  this." 

A  slight  shade  passed  into  the  attentive  regard  of 
Lord  Caversham.  Princess  Georgina's  little  finger, 
which  had  been  restless,  ceased  to  move. 

"First,  I  wish  to  say  a  word  about  this  treaty,  not 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race — 
we  all  feel  it's  a  jolly  good  thing  for  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race — but  from  England's.  Here  I've  got  to 
speak  with  modesty,  I  know,  before  you,  Lord 
Caversham,  and  with  care  before  you,  Sir  Bute.  But 

340 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

we  all  know  how  things  are  with  England.  I'm  not 
going  to  talk  about  the  upheaval  of  the  manual  in- 
terest or  the  difficulty  of  getting  money  for  any  sort 
of  war  purpose.  But" — he  took  a  pamphlet  from 
his  breast  pocket — "have  any  of  you  seen  that?" 

On  the  red  paper  cover,  in  plain,  black  lettering, 
ran  the  title: 

WILL   ENGLAND  BREAK  AWAY  FROM  THE  EMPIRE? 

and  underneath: 

WHY  NOT? 

They  considered  it  in  turn.  The  Prime  Minister 
smiled  sadly.  Princess  Georgina  uttered  the  word, 
"Abominable."  Sir  Bute  Rivers  looked  as  con- 
temptuous as  a  man  might  in  the  presence  of  his 
King. 

"I  point  it  out  to  you  only  as  a  straw.  But  you 
see  one  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  of  these  straws 
have  been  sold;  not  distributed — sold  at  threepence. 
And  it  is  written  by  Andrew  Organ,  the  man  who 
leads  the  Labor  Party  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Well,  Sir  Bute?" 

A  word  was  obviously  trembling  on  the  Foreign 
Secretary's  lips.  "Organ  told  me  himself,  sir,  that 
in  his  opinion,  if  the  treaty  came  through,  this  coun- 
try would  be  more  cheaply  defended  inside  the 
Federation  than  out,"  said  he. 

34i 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"He  must  be  an  insincere  sort  of  beggar  then," 
Alfred  replied,  "to  have  written  a  thing  like  this." 

'Electioneering,  I  fear,  sir.  Mere  electioneer- 
ing." 

"Mere  electioneering,"  said  the  King,  and  looked 
at  them,  first  one  and  then  another.  "Is  it  so  bad 
as  that?" 

His  ministers  had  no  answer  ready.  The  Princess 
sighed. 

"The  First  Lord  was  informed  from  Ottawa  last 
night,"  remarked  Lord  Caversham  pleasantly,  "that 
the  Canadians  would  budget  a  million  for  Air  this 
year." 

"Dollars?"  asked  Sir  Bute. 

"Pounds,"  said  Lord  Caversham. 

"That's  good  hearing.  But  Canada  has  lately 
been  doing  rather  more  than  the  people  will  stand," 
the  King  said.  "We  don't  want  to  see  the  Gordon 
government  turned  out  over  an  imperial  defences 
appropriation." 

"No,  we  don't,"  said  Lord  Caversham. 

"You  will  perhaps  wonder  what  my  point  is,"  Al- 
fred went  on,  "now  that  the  treaty  is  accomplished." 

They  did  wonder.  Princess  Georgina  turned 
upon  him  a  face  which  said  dutifully,  "All  in  your 
Majesty's  good  time,"  but  which  also  expressed  im- 
mense relief.  If  he  had  dreamed  of  abdication  he 
would  not  be  making  such  a  fuss  about  a  treaty. 

342 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"The  treaty  is  ratified.  Sir  Bute  has  told  me  that 
both  the  Americans  and  ourselves  have  had  to  fight 
the  continent  of  Europe  to  get  it.  It's  a  great  treaty; 
it  gives  Anglo-Saxon  affairs  the  benefit  of  business 
management,  and  it  brings  us  all  together  against 
outside  interference;  but  its  enemies  in  the  Senate 
have  succeeded  in  throwing  one  or  two  clauses,  in 
certain  circumstances,  under  the  necessity  of  interpre- 
tation. Sir  Bute  has  kindly  brought  the  treaty  this 
morning  so  that,  if  necessary,  we  could  consider 
those  clauses." 

"For  my  part,"  said  Lord  Caversham  agreeably, 
"I've  been  kept  in  touch.  Thanks  to  you,  Rivers,  I 
think  I  know  what  we  might  call  the  weak  spot  to 
which  His  Majesty  refers." 

"I  am  all  too  familiar  with  it,"  remarked  Sir  Bute; 
and  the  Princess  Georgina  bowed  in  a  manner  which 
said  that  she  entirely  accepted  the  situation,  what- 
ever it  was. 

"I  thought  you  would  say  that,"  said  King  Alfred. 
He  was  still,  Lord  Caversham  thought,  extraordi- 
narily youthful  in  his  manner  sometimes.  "So  we 
can  get  on." 

He  paused  for  a  moment  nevertheless,  and  seemed 
to  take  counsel  with  himself.  Then  the  lines  of  his 
face  grew  firmer,  although  his  lips  were  quite  com- 
posed and  pleasant  as  he  said: 

"That  weak  spot  means  that,  in  spite  of  all  my 

343 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

friend,  President  Lanchester,  has  been  able  to  do  on 
his  side — we  know  under  what  difficulties — and  we 
on  ours,  the  intention  of  the  treaty  in  one  very  im- 
portant particular  will  be  dictated  by  the  good  will 
of  the  American  people.  And  the  effectiveness  of 
that  good  will  is  and  must  be  embarrassed  by  influ- 
ences not  friendly  to  us,  which  are  only  half  Amer- 
ican and  which  will,  in  response  to  suggestion  from 
Europe,  always  attempt,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  to 
give  a  direction  to  American  foreign  policy." 

The  Prime  Minister  nodded  slowly.  The  Prin- 
cess Georgina  suppressed  a  little  yawn,  looked  dread- 
fully ashamed  and  pulled  down  her  veil  more  briskly 
than  ever. 

"I  know  you  will  agree  with  me  that  anything  that 
can  be  done  on  this  side  to  safeguard  that  good  will 
ought  to  be  done."  He  looked  at  them  one  after 
the  other  in  a  way  that  made  it  a  question. 

"By  all  means,"  said  Lord  Caversham. 

"Everything  in  reason,"  said  the  Foreign  Sec- 
retary. 

"Anything  that  /  can  do,"  murmured  the  Princess. 
"Those  international  guild  fetes  last  August — one 
can  at  all  events  just  appear  with  a  pleasant  word  or 
two " 

"Very  well,"  said  Alfred.  "I  have  determined 
myself  to  take  a  step  in  that  direction.  I  am  accus- 
tomed to  arguments  that  deal  with  my  marriage  as 

344 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

a  national  asset,  and  lay  before  me  the  duty  of 
cementing  this  or  that  European  friendship  to  Eng- 
land. I  do  not  say  that  such  considerations  should 
or  shall  dictate  my  marriage;  but  that  is  the  aspect 
in  which  you  may  all  properly  claim  to  be  consulted 
about  it  and  that  is  the  aspect  in  which  I  lay  it  be- 
fore you.  I  hope  to  receive  your  approval  of  my 
intention  to  propose  marriage  to  Hilary,  daughter 
of  Henry  Lanchester,  president  of  the  United 
States." 

The  Princess  Georgina's  hand,  transfixed  on  its 
way  to  her  veil,  fell  upon  the  table.  "/  feared  it!" 
she  exclaimed,  and  with  a  despairing  motion  of  the 
head  threw  the  situation  without  reserve  before  the 
Prime  Minister.  All  the  safeguards  of  the  consti- 
tution went  into  his  lap  with  that  gesture.  "Heavens, 
Lord  Caversham!"  she  cried,  as  for  a  moment  he 
did  not  speak,  "don't  twiddle  your  thumbs!  Tell  the 
King  he  is  mad!" 

Lord  Caversham  ceased  to  twiddle  them,  looked 
very  thoughtful,  paternal,  a  little  sad.  Sir  Bute 
Rivers  sat  restraining  himself,  shaking  his  foot  from 
the  ankle. 

"I  fully  recognize — I  think  we  all  must — the  ad- 
mirable purpose  which  Your  Majesty  has  in  view  in 
suggesting  this  step,"  the  Prime  Minister  began. 

"I  don't  suggest  it,  Caversham.  I'm  afraid  you 
must  understand  that  I  intend  it." 

345 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

The  Princess,  with  an  inaudible  "Oh !"  lifted  both 
her  hands  and  dropped  them  again. 

"Then  we  may  take  it,  sir,  that  you  have — er — 
graciously  sent  for  us  in  order  that  we  may  be  in- 
formed," said  Lord  Caversham  with  suavity. 

"Partly,"  said  Alfred;  "and  partly  in  order  that 
you,  as  my  ministers,  may  place  before  me  any  prac- 
tical difficulty  there  may  be  in  my  way  with  a  view 
to  finding  the  best  means  to  overcome  it." 

His  ministers,  for  the  first  time,  glanced  at  each 
other. 

"Perhaps,  sir,"  said  Sir  Bute,  "in  a  matter  of  such 
extraordinary  importance,  some  opportunity  for  pri- 
vate conference —  Our  colleagues " 

"By  all  means — as  to  details  and  so  on — later," 
the  King  replied;  "but  I  want  to  know,  here  and 
now,  if  you  don't  mind,  what  you  two  think.  Please 
be  quite  open." 

"Looking  at  Your  Majesty's  proposal  from  the 
outside — as  I  understand  it  is  Your  Majesty's  desire 
that  I  should  do — it  would  be  considered,  I  fear,  a 
subversionary  act  by  other  courts  of  Europe,"  said 
Sir  Bute  Rivers.  "It  would  be  thought  to  be  laying 
an  axe  at  the  root  of  all  monarchical  tradition." 

"I  suppose  you  were  bound  to  put  that  before  me, 
Sir  Bute.  But  I  have  no  such  respect  for  the  remain- 
ing courts  of  Europe  that  I  feel  compelled  to  make 
great  personal  sacrifices  to  retain  their  good  opin- 

346 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

ion,"  Alfred  told  him.  "What  I  care  chiefly  about 
in  this  matter  is  what  my  own  people  will  feel.  My 
people  are  my  family.  I  want  them,  of  course,  to 
love  my  wife  and  to  approve  of  my  marriage." 

Lord  Caversham's  thumbs  were  again  slowly  re- 
volving. "So  far  as  the  statutes  are  concerned,"  he 
said,  "I  believe  that  except  for  the  religious  disability 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  sovereign  from  mar- 
rying whom  he  pleases.  The  matter  would  neces- 
sarily come  before  Parliament  only  in  the  form  of  a 
vote  for  provision." 

"Of  that  I  should  be  independent,"  said  Alfred. 
"I  have  my  mother's  money,  and  Miss  Lanchester 
has  a  silver  mine — or  the  price  of  it,"  he  added,  col- 
oring boyishly. 

"The  throne  of  England  cannot  be  bought  with 
a  silver  mine!"  exclaimed  Princess  Georgina,  and 
took  out  her  handkerchief. 

"The  throne  of  England  is  not  for  sale,  Aunt 
Georgina.  Perhaps,  now  that  you  have  heard " 

But  the  Princess,  with  her  unoccupied  hand, 
clutched  the  table.  "N-nothing,"  she  succeeded 
in  saying,  "will  induce  me  to  leave  this  spot  except 
your  absolute  c-c-command,  Alfred." 

"Then  where  are  your  salts?"  he  asked  sternly. 

She  found  and  applied  them.  The  moment  passed, 
the  triviality  of  a  great  hour.  All  great  hours  have 
them. 

347 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"The  vote  for  provision  would  have  to  come," 
said  Lord  Caversham.  "As  Her  Royal  Highness 
suggests,  you  would  hardly  expect  the  people  of 
England  to  permit  their  throne  to  be  financed  with 
foreign  money,  sir." 

"American  dollars!"  murmured  the  Princess  into 
her  handkerchief. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Alfred  calmly,  "why  we 
should  be  so  sensitive  nowadays  about  American  dol- 
lars. It  was  trying  to  get  too  many  of  them — or 
their  equivalent — that  lost  us  the  country." 

"I  may  suggest  to  you,  sir,  that  the  character  and 
the  result  of  such  a  debate  might  do  more  harm  to 
international  good  will  than  the  marriage  might  do 
good,"  Lord  Caversham  went  on. 

"I  am  always  being  put  off  with  that!"  exclaimed 
Alfred. 

The  Prime  Minister  slowly  opened  his  eyes. 
"Put  off  by  whom?"  he  may  have  reflected. 

"It  entirely  depends  upon  the  feeling  of  the  coun- 
try. Parliament  is  a  democratic  concern.  And  I 
believe  the  people  of  the  country  would  show  any 
government  the  way  out,  that  tried  to  snub  my  wife." 
He  was  very  royal  in  his  high-backed  chair,  as  he 
said  that.  His  aunt  glanced  at  him  with  trembling 
admiration.  Sir  Bute  Rivers  sank  from  the  Right 
Honorable  the  Foreign  Secretary  into  the  third 
baronet.  Lord  Caversham  looked  suddenly  aroused, 

348 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

as  if  he  gathered,  for  the  first  time,  that  he  would  be 
obliged  to  cope  with  something. 

"Your  Majesty,"  he  said,  "I  cannot  conscien- 
tiously lead  you  to  believe  that  your  proposal  could 
be  seriously  entertained  by  any  of  us  who  have  the 
honor  to  advise  you.  The  Crown  and  all  that  belongs 
to  it  is  too  dear  to  the  country,  and  the  risk  to  the 
Crown  would  be  too  great.  Such  an  alliance  would 
be  resented  by  the  whole  fabric  of  the  aristocracy, 
upon  which  the  English  monarchy  reposes — to  what 
point  I  dare  not  ask  you  to  look." 

"Oh,  Alfred,"  moaned  the  Princess  Georgina, 
"give  her  up!" 

The  King  smiled  ever  so  slightly.  "My  dear 
Caversham,"  he  said,  "the  English  monarchy  reposes 
on  the  hearts  of  the  English  people  and  nowhere  else, 
and  the  whole  fabric  of  the  aristocracy  may  jolly 
well  put  its  head  in  a  bag.  But  I  was  afraid  I  would 
find  your  views  still  clouded  by  these  old  obsessions. 
I  should  like  to  persuade  you  that  they  belong  to 
the  political  childhood  of  this  country,  but  I'm  afraid 
there  isn't  time.  I  take  it  they  are  your  views — 
finally?" 

"I  fear  that  no  reconsideration  could  alter  them," 
Lord  Caversham  said. 

"They  are  certainly  mine,"  said  Sir  Bute  Rivers. 

"And  mine,"  repeated  Princess  Georgina,  not 
without  a  ray  of  apprehension  in  her  glance. 

349 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

"I  thought  they  might  be,"  said  the  King.  "Now, 
I  will  tell  you  something  else."  He  leaned  forward 
and  touched  the  electric  button  on  the  table. 

To  the  inscrutable  person  in  black  who  appeared, 
he  said :  "Mr.  Youghall  is  in  my  study,  Bates.  Ask 
Major  Coningsby  to  bring  him  here." 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 

IT'S  still  raining,"  the  King  remarked,  turning 
in  his  chair  to  look  out  of  the  tall  window,  as 
they  waited  for  Youghall  to  appear. 

The  Princess  blew  her  nose  for  response.  Lord 
Caversham,  lost  in  his  waistcoat,  apparently  did  not 
hear.  Sir  Bute  Rivers  said,  "It  is,"  with  non- 
committal air. 

They  sat  plainly  in  opposing  forces  there  in  the 
lofty,  dignified  room  in  Buckingham  Palace  with  the 
windy  April  morning  dripping  and  storming  on  out- 
side among  the  trees  of  the  palace  garden — the 
King,  young  and  confident,  alone  against  usage  and 
tradition,  the  high  custom  of  his  ancestors  in  the 
Princess,  the  pride  of  the  Kingdom  in  Lord  Caver- 
sham,  the  scorn  of  his  fellow  monarchs  in  the  Foreign 
Secretary.  There  they  sat,  silent  out  of  respect  to 
him,  ranged  solidly  against  him  in  this  thing  that  he 
wished  to  do  and  only  just  convinced  that  their  hos- 
tility must  be  serious ;  one  thinking  of  the  prestige  of 
royalty,  another  of  his  own  great  governing  world, 
and  another  of  the  face  with  which  he  should  meet 

35i 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

the  ambassadors  of  Europe  on  the  next  occasion. 
And  outside,  but  not  too  far  away,  roared  the  com- 
monwealth. 

Alfred  lifted  his  head  and  listened,  as  he  often 
did  to  that  sound,  with  a  smile. 

The  door  opened;  the  equerry  walked  in.  "Mr. 
Arthur  Youghall,  sir." 

The  Princess  looked  around  as  Youghall  entered, 
and  did  not  like  the  confidence  with  which  he  seemed 
to  be  restoring  his  handkerchief  to  his  breast  pocket. 
Little  things  have  an  extraordinary  power  to  indi- 
cate. "Why,  in  any  case,  send  for  this  nobody?" 
she  asked  herself. 

But  Alfred  was  indeed  most  incalculable. 

"Will  you  sit  here,  Youghall?"  said  the  King,  in- 
dicating a  chair  near  him,  one  a  little  detached  from 
the  group  at  the  table.  "I  think  you  know  every- 
body? I  have  asked  you  to  join  us  in  this  informal 
discussion,  because  you  are  familiar  with  some  of 
the  facts  that  are  involved  and  will  be  able  to  correct 
my  recollection  of  them  if  necessary." 

Youghall  bowed,  first  to  his  sovereign  and  then  to 
the  little  council.  He  took  the  chair  and  drew  some 
notes  from  his  pocket.  His  manner  was  deplorably 
parliamentary. 

"Mr.  Youghall,"  said  the  King  to  the  company, 
"is  acquainted  with  the  intention  of  which  I  have 
told  you,  and  perhaps  will  be  able  to  help  us  in  con- 

352 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

sidering  to  what  extent  it  should  be  influenced  by  a 
certain  circumstance." 

Alfred  was  now  speaking  carefully,  with  the  effect 
of  remembering  words  already  prepared.  The  Prime 
Minister  was  looking  at  him  keenly.  He  had  en- 
tirely ceased  to  twiddle  his  thumbs. 

"You  are  all  aware  that  I  spent  most  of  the  sum- 
mer and  autumn  of  the  year  of  my  accession  in  camp 
in  the  Adirondack  Mountains  in  the  state  of  New 
York,  undergoing  a  cure  for  phthisis.  President 
Lanchester,  then  ex-President,  and  his  daughter  were 
living  at  their  cottage  on  Old  Loon  Lake,  near  my 
camp.  I  had  already  met  Miss  Lanchester  at  Wash- 
ington  " 

Here  Princess  Georgina,  as  if  at  some  overwhelm- 
ing thought,  raised  her  clasped  hands  and  dropped 
them  again. 

"And  I  soon  formed  one  of  the  greatest  friend- 
ships of  my  life  for  her  father.  I  also  became  very 
deeply  attached  to  Miss  Lanchester.  As  you  know, 
Doctor  Morrow,  to  whom  I  can  never  be  grateful 
enough,  cured  me.  He  did  more  than  that" — Alfred 
looked  at  them  very  directly — "he  made  a  man  of 
me,  of  me  who  had  been,  I  am  afraid,  very  little 
more  than  a  prince." 

"Alfred!"  breathed  his  aunt.  Was  there  no  way 
of  enforcing  lese  majeste  against  a  sovereign? 

"Hearing  of  my  restoration,  you  in  England,  no 

353 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

doubt  rightly  enough  from  your  point  of  view,  took 
up  the  business  of  my  marriage;  and  you,  Princess, 
charged  yourself  or  were  charged  with  a  mission  to 
intimate  to  me  what  was  expected  of  me,  preferably 
in  a  certain  direction.  By  that  time  I  knew  that 
there  was  only  one  woman  in  the  world  whom 
I  wished  to  marry,  and  that  it  would  not  there- 
fore be  consonant  with  my  feelings  to  marry  any 
other." 

"Believe  me,  my  dearest  Alfred,  these  difficulties 
have  occurred  to  every " 

His  uplifted  hand  stayed  the  torrent  from  the 
Princess.  "Aunt  Georgina,  if  this  is  really  too  much 
for  you " 

"No,  no!    Oh,  no!" 

"I  recognized  nevertheless  that  it  had  been  made 
necessary  for  me  to  return  to  England,  and  I  very 
greatly  doubted  if  I  should  be  able  to  prevail,  at  all 
events  within  a  reasonable  time,  against  influences 
which  would  be  exerted  to  keep  me  here,  or  possibly 
against  arguments  which  would  be  advanced  to  com- 
pel me  to  make  the  conventional  royal  marriage.  I 
decided  to  lay  the  situation  and  my  plan  for  dealing 
with  it  before  Miss  Lanchester,  and,  with  the  knowl- 
edge she  possessed  of  my  feelings,  to  let  her  decide. 
I  have  now  to  tell  you  that  she  nobly  consented  to 
marry  me  at  once,  and  that  on  September  fifteenth 
of  that  year,  at  the  registry  office  of  the  town  of 

354 


Cascade,  in  the  Algonquin  District  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  she  became  my  wife." 

"Impossible!"  wailed  the  Princess  Georgina. 

"No,  your  Royal  Highness,"  observed  Youghall, 
putting,  as  the  Princess  said  afterwards  with  exasper- 
ation, one  word  after  the  other,  "I  happened  to  have 
business  with  Prince  Alfred — as  he  then  was — the 
same  evening,  and  I  saw  the  record  the  following 
day  in  the  clerk's  books.  I  have  a  copy  of  the  mar- 
riage certificate  with  me  here.  The  original  is,  of 
course,  in  Cascade." 

Lord  Caversham  leaned  forward.  "What  Her 
Royal  Highness  means,  I  take  it,  is  not  that  the  mar- 
riage did  not  take  place,  but  that  His  Majesty  is 
under  a  misapprehension  in  supposing  that  the  lady 
is  his  wife,"  said  he;  "and  in  that  I  think  she  is  sup- 
ported by  the  statutes." 

"I  know  precisely  what  you  mean,"  Alfred  said; 
"the  Royal  Marriages  Act.  Here  it  is."  He  opened 
a  stout  volume,  bound  in  time-worn  calf,  which  lay 
upon  the  table.  "  'An  Act  for  the  Better  Regulating 
the  Future  Marriages  of  the  Royal  Family.  Anno 
Duodecimo  Georgii  III,'  "  he  read.  "I'm  glad  it 
was  George  the  Third.  I've  always  wanted  to  pay 
that  fathead  something  back." 

"Alfred!"  his  aunt  could  only  moan. 

"Here  we  are.  This  provides,  Aunt  Georgina, 
that  the  marriage  of  any  descendant  of  that  illustrious 

355 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

ass,  made  without  the  consent  of  the  sovereign, 
'shall  be  null  and  void  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes 
Whatsoever' — unless  he  is  twenty-five  years  of  age 
and  persists,  and  one  House  of  Parliament  consents, 
and  so  forth.  That  doesn't  apply,  but  it  shows  that 
even  then  the  matter  was  practically  laid  before  the 
people.  However,  there  it  is  plainly  enough — null 
and  void,  with  penalties  for  anybody  assisting  at 
such  a  marriage  as  prescribed  by  the  Statute  of 
Praemunire,  made  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Richard  the  Second.  Well,"  said  Alfred,  with  an 
extraordinarily  equable  laugh,  "they  won't  hold  any- 
way, since  I  married  in  America." 

"The  provisions  of  the  statute  are  no  doubt  an- 
tiquated," remarked  Sir  Bute  Rivers  dryly;  "but  as 
you  say,  sir,  it  is  the  law."  The  Foreign  Secretary 
had  drawn  his  legs  under  his  chair,  and  was  tapping 
about  the  table  with  a  pencil.  He  looked  oddly  like 
a  hornet. 

"There  is,  I  fear,  no  doubt  about  it,"  said  Lord 
Caversham. 

"Even  the  penalties  for  assistance,"  said  Sir  Bute, 
with  an  involuntary  glance  in  the  direction  of  Youg- 
hall,  "would  be  found,  I  imagine,  to  be  operative." 

"I  entirely  acknowledge  the  assistance,"  said 
Youghall  promptly,  "though  it  was  mostly  after  the 
fact.  And  I'll  stand  for  the  penalties." 

"Be  careful,  Arthur,"  said  Alfred  with  twinkling 

356 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

gravity.  "Your  estates  may  be  forfeited  to  the 
Crown,  you  know,  and  your  person,  please  remember, 
placed  at  my  disposal  without  the  protection  of  the 
police." 

"At  any  time,"  said  Youghall  quietly. 

"A  curious  situation,  certainly,"  said  Lord  Caver- 
sham.  "Connivance  in  an  offense  against  the  Sov- 
ereign committed — er — hum.  But  no  doubt  the 
courts  would  be  able  to  unravel  it.  There  is,  I  fear," 
he  repeated,  "no  doubt  about  the  law." 

The  Princess  saw  hope  as  a  star  appearing. 
"Don't  you  see,  Alfred,  that  it  must  be  so?"  she  said, 
folding  the  hands  of  meekness  under  prescribed  con- 
ditions. 

"I  am  not  married,  you  consider,"  said  the  King. 
"And  the  lady  who  married  me?" 

"If  you  are  not  married,  sir,  she  cannot  be," 
said  Lord  Caversham  a  little  tartly.  "It  stands  to 
reason." 

"I  wonder,"  said  the  King. 

"It  is  a  curious  position,  certainly,"  Lord  Caver- 
sham  said.  "You,  sir,  are  not  married  under  the  law 
of  your  country,  and  the  lady  is  married  under  the 
law  of  hers.  But  that,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  say* 
so,  was  her  affair  at  the  time " 

"No"  said  the  King,  with  the  first  sound  of  anger 
in  his  voice.  "It  was  my  affair!  I  was  in  a  rotten 
position  and  she  helped  me  out  of  it." 

357 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

"That  way  of  putting  it  does  you  honor,  sir.  But 
I  fear  the  lady  must  look  to  American  law  to  free 
her  from  her  very  difficult  and  embarrassing  situa- 
tion," said  Lord  Caversham  gravely. 

"Such  things  are  so  easy  in  America,"  breathed 
the  Princess. 

The  Foreign  Secretary  had  been  looking  at  the 
copy  of  the  marriage  certificate.  "She  could  obtain 
a  divorce,"  he  remarked,  "from  the  gentleman  de- 
scribed here  as  Alfred  Wettin.  A  divorce,  after  all 
this  time,  for — ah,  well,  in  legal  language,  for  de- 
sertion— easily.  There  need  be  no  publicity." 

The  King  looked  at  his  Foreign  Secretary  with  an 
expression  that  was  not  pleasant;  but  he  controlled 
himself  and  said  in  an  even  voice :  "She  will  never 
obtain  a  divorce  for  desertion  by  Alfred  Wettin. 
But  I  think  we  must  make  an  end  of  this,  gentlemen. 
I  repeat  to  you  that  I  propose  to  offer  marriage  to 
Hilary,  only  daughter  of  Mr.  Henry  Lanchester, 
president  of  the  United  States  of  America.  I  would 
like,  for  reasons  of  public  policy,  to  do  it  with  the 
consent  and  approval  which  you  are  in  a  position  to 
arrange;  and  I  ask  you  now,  with  the  facts  before 
you,  whether  I  can  depend  upon  that  consent  and 
approval  or  not." 

There  was  just  a  perceptible  pause. 

The  King  waited.  Arthur  Youghall  leaned  for- 
ward and  waited  also,  looking  at  them  all. 

358 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

The  Prime  Minister  replied:  "I  am  deeply  dis- 
tressed, sir,  to  give  you  pain  in  a  matter  which  so 
intimately  concerns  you,  but  I  feel  compelled  to  say 
that  I  cannot  answer  for  the  government  in  the  sense 
you  desire." 

"I  support  Lord  Caversham,"  said  the  Foreign 
Secretary.  "I  can  do  nothing  else." 

The  Princess  Georgina  only  looked. 

"Then,"  said  Alfred,  "in  order  to  put  myself  right 
with  the  people  in  advance,  I  warn  you  that  I  shall 
feel  at  liberty  at  once  to  authorize  the  publication 
of  the  facts,  both  here  and  in  America.  If  you  choose 
to  repudiate  the  marriage " 

"It  is  no  marriage,  sir,  under  the  law  of  this 
country,"  said  Lord  Caversham,  stroking  his  chin. 

"It  is  a  marriage  under  the  law  of  the  country  to 
which  I  owe  my  life,"  said  Alfred  quietly.  "And  if 
you  then  choose  to  repudiate  it " 

"Acknowledging  our  indebtedness,  sir,  which  is 
greater  than  yours,  we  should  have  no  resource  but 
to  repudiate  it,"  said  Caversham,  as  the  King  paused. 

"The  responsibility  will  rest  with  you." 

There  was  again  silence. 

Alfred  looked,  almost  with  astonishment,  at  the 
demeanor  of  the  people  before  him.  It  was  im- 
mensely concerned,  full  of  reluctance,  but  quite  firm 
and  unimpressed.  He  had  trusted  the  wings  of  his 
imagination,  and  they  had  not  brushed  an  eyelash 

359. 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

out  of  place  belonging  to  one  of  them.  He  had  un- 
rolled his  great  story,  and  they  had  put  it  aside  as  if 
it  were  a  fairy  tale.  They  sat,  stolid  and  unwinking, 
for  what  they  saw  a  historic  principle  and  nothing 
more.  He  had  not  moved  them.  He  had  played  his 
last  trump,  and  he  had  not  moved  them. 

"The  responsibility,"  said  Lord  Caversham  heavi- 
ly, "would  indeed  be  great.  But  I  fear,  sir,  it  would 
rest  upon  you  and  the  lady  concerned." 

At  that  Arthur  Youghall,  with  a  sudden  move- 
ment, threw  himself  back  in  his  chair  and  thrust 
his  hands  in  his  pockets. 

"My  position  is  entirely  a  moral  one,"  said  Al- 
fred, but  there  was  a  hint  of  dispiritedness  in  his 
tone. 

Lord  Caversham  was  quick  to  see  it.  "Your  at- 
titude, sir,  is  unimpeachable.  Your  position  is  what 
the  law  makes  it.  So  far  as  the  marriage  in  New 
York  State  is  concerned  the  lady  could  not  be  ac- 
cepted here  as  your  wife,  nor  could  your  children 
succeed.  Under  this  statute,  as  you  yourself  recog- 
nize, you  were  not  legally  qualified  to  contract  mar- 
riage without  the  consent  of  the  sovereign.  I  fear, 
sir,  you  have  no — practicable — alternative." 

"Oh,  my  dearest  Alfred,"  ventured  the  Princess, 
"you  must  do  what  becomes  a  king." 

He  turned  upon  her  a  curiously  bitter  face.  "And 
is  that  less,"  he  said,  "than  becomes  any  decent 

360 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

chap?  If  it  is "  He  straightened  his  shoulders. 

An  excited  relative  might  easily  have  thought  a  bur- 
den about  to  fall.  The  clock  ticked  ten  times  while 
they  waited  for  the  end  of  the  sentence  that  did  not 
come. 

"You  must  forgive  me  for  saying,"  Alfred  told 
them,  "that  I  find  this  discussion  even  more  intoler- 
able than  I  expected  it  to  be.  So  would  any  one  of 
you  in  my  place."  Then  to  Lord  Caversham:  "You 
would  repudiate  that  marriage?" 

"It  would  be  our  duty  to  repudiate  it.  Yes,  sir; 
we  should  repudiate  it."  At  the  game  of  bluff  the 
Prime  Minister  was  perhaps  the  better  man. 

"Then  perhaps,"  said  Alfred,  "more  harm  than 
good  would  be  done  by  publishing  it;  and  I  may 
reconsider  publication.  But  I  maintain  my  intention 
as  I  first  laid  it  before  you.  I  must  ask  you  to  under- 
stand that." 

The  King  rose  as  he  spoke,  very  pale,  and  the 
others  with  him. 

Lord  Caversham  laid  a  hand  upon  his  arm.  "For- 
give me,  sir,  but  I  beg  you  will  also  reconsider  that 
intention.  We  should  be  false  both  to  you  and  to 
the  country  if  we  did  not  oppose  it  in  every  possible 
way.  Such  an  action  on  your  part  would  be  anti- 
constitutional.  It  would  threaten  the  very  existence 
of  the  throne." 

Alfred  shook  his  head.     "I  have  nothing  more 

361 


to  say,"  he  told  them  simply,  and  turned  as  if  to 
leave  them. 

Then  spoke  Arthur  Youghall,  leaning  against  his 
chair,  which  he  tipped  forward  under  him. 

"I'd  just  like  to  add  one  word,"  said  he  in  his  de- 
liberate way.  "You  all  make  out  that  His  Majesty 
was  not  married  to  Miss  Lanchester  at  Cascade, 
New  York,  because,  as  a  cadet  of  the  royal  family 
of  England,  he  couldn't  do  it  without  the  consent 
of  the  sovereign.  Your  objection,  if  the  premises 
were  correct,  is  perfectly  valid  and  unimpeachable. 
But  the  premises  are  not  correct.  That  marriage 
took  place  on  September  fifteenth  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  On  September  fifteenth  the  late  King 
John  and  his  brother  were  drowned  at  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  The  person  who  married  Miss  Lan- 
chester at  Cascade,  New  York,  was  certainly  the  third 
prince  of  the  royal  family,  but  he  was  also  virtually 
the  king  of  England — had  been  so  for  some  hours 
when  he  married.  So  I  imagine  you'll  find  the  law 
won't  cut  the  knot  for  you,  gentlemen." 

Alfred  gave  Youghall  a  swift  look  of  astonish- 
ment, and  then  surveyed  the  opposing  cohort. 

He  had  seen  the  same  expression  on  the  face  of 
Lord  Caversham  once  before,  when  the  Prime  Min- 
ister heard  an  unexpected  vote  announced  that  sent 
him  out  of  office.  Sir  Bute  Rivers,  from  a  bullying 
baron  enforcing  the  authority  of  a  sacred  piece  of 

362 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

paper,  shrank  again  into  the  third  baronet  looking  to 
the  peerage. 

"Mr.  Youghall  would  give  us  to  understand," 
stammered  the  Foreign  Secretary,  "that  it  was  His 
Majesty  who  married." 

"It  was  nobody  else,"  said  the  Under  Secretary. 

They  stood  for  an  instant  looking  at  Youghall, 
who  had  closed  his  mouth,  as  the  Princess  said  after- 
wards, as  if  nothing  more  would  ever  come  out  of  it. 

The  Prime  Minister  took  a  step  forward. 
"Then,  sir,  we  can  only  appeal  to  you  for  the  sake 
of  the  honor  of  England " 

Alfred  looked  at  him  steadily.  Doubtless  the 
Prime  Minister  might  have  been  more  fortunate  in 
the  name  he  invoked  for  his  purpose.  Lord  Caver- 
sham's  eyes  fell.  There  was  an  instant  of  silence, 
and  then  it  was  as  if  the  King  had  laid  his  hand  upon 
his  sword. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Alfred,  "you  have  taught  me 
many  things,  for  which  I  thank  you.  There  is  per- 
haps one  that  you  may  learn  of  me.  The  honor  of 
England  is  mine — and  mine  is  England's." 

And  it  was  Youghall  the  Canadian,  standing  by 
with  folded  arms,  who  found  the  buoyant  word  of 
reply. 

"Surely,"  said  Youghall  the  Canadian. 

The  Princess  Georgina,  for  all  her  dismay,  was  the 
first  to  respond  to  the  new  polarity  of  the  situation. 

363 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

She  threw  up  two  crumpled  sleeves  of  resignation 
before  the  King.  "Oh,  Alfred,"  she  said,  "if  it 
is  for  your  good  and  for  England's,  my  arms  are 
open  to  her." 

The  King  kissed  her  forehead.  "As  they  were  be- 
fore," he  said,  with  a  funny  tenderness. 

And  his  Aunt  Georgina  through  her  tears  echoed 
him:  "As  they  were  before.  There  is  this  to  be 
said" — she  addressed  Lord  Caversham — "She  is  my 
goddaughter." 

"I  admit  the  complication,"  said  Lord  Caversham, 
more,  it  seemed,  to  Sir  Bute  than  to  anyone  else. 
"I  admit  the  complication." 

Alfred  left  him  admitting  it.  "I  will  notify  the 
Privy  Council  to-morrow,"  he  said.  "And  I  need 
not  say,  gentlemen,  that  as  to  what  I  have  disclosed 
to  you  this  morning,  the  public  interest,  as  well  as  my 
own,  demands  your  absolute  discretion.  I  should 
like  to  see  you  later,  Youghall.  Will  you  lunch  if 
you  are  disengaged?  Good  morning,  Caversham. 
Thank  you  for  your  patient  attention.  You,  too, 
Sir  Bute." 

And  so,  having  shaken  hands,  the  King  walked 
out  of  his  audience  chamber,  leaving  Youghall,  as  he 
afterwards  reproached  himself,  to  the  lions. 

The  parliamentary  Under  Secretary  for  War  was 
nevertheless  sound  and  whole  enough  when  he  met 
his  sovereign  for  a  private  moment  before  luncheon. 

364 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

His  welcome  was  ambiguous.  Alfred  approached 
and  seized  him  by  the  lapel  of  his  coat. 

"You  unthinkable  ruffian!"  he  said.  You  un- 
speakable brute !  You  have  had  it  up  your  sleeve 
all  these  years!  Why,  in  the  name  of  my  married 
majesty,  didn't  you  point  it  out  before?" 

"There  would  have  been  no  holding  you,"  said 
Youghall  without  excitement,  "and,  in  advance,  it 
would  have  shattered  the  treaty.  Maybe  more.  You 
see  that,  don't  you,  sir?  And  I  knew  you  wanted 
the  treaty." 

He  was  a  slow  fellow,  this  Canadian,  Arthur 
Youghall.  It  must  be  admitted  that  he  could  wait. 

The  butler  announced  luncheon. 


CHAPTER    XXXV 

THE  treaty  had  been  signed  at  last  in  the  first 
week  in  April  of  the  year  after  Henry  Lan- 
chester  came  to  the  White  House  for  the 
second  time.  It  was  not  a  perfect  treaty,  but  it  was  a 
very  powerful  and  suggestive  instrument  nevertheless. 
It  lay  like  a  great  artillery  piece  on  the  field  of 
politics,  and  many  eminent  persons,  mainly  of  foreign 
extraction,  walked  around  it  in  natural  speculation. 
There  were  those  who  expected  an  immediate  volley 
in  a  specified  direction.  There  were  those  who  said — 
and  the  wish  was  father  to  the  thought — that  it  would 
be  scrapped  before  it  was  fired.  Meanwhile  it  was  as 
impressive  to  the  world  as  any  long-conceived  ideal 
is  apt  to  be  when  it  finally  takes  shape  from  human 
hands.  The  authors  surveyed  it  with  no  great  ex- 
citement on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.  There  was 
the  general  sense  of  an  old-standing  matter  of  family 
business  at  last  arranged,  and  the  relief  that  follows 
that.  A  certain  satisfaction  perhaps,  as  well,  in  the 
rather  magnificent  spectacle  of  family  unity  which 
the  event  offered  to  outsiders,  and  in  his  own  coun- 

366 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

try  an  even  greater  pride  in  the  President  who  had 
fought  down  the  old  fears  and  suspicions  and  through 
his  personal  influence  brought  Congress  to  his  point 
of  view.  The  triumph  of  the  treaty  seemed  there  to 
have  even  more  a  sporting  interest  than  a  national 
one,  and  from  its  mere  difficulty  added  immensely  to 
the  popularity,  which  was  rapidly  becoming  prestige, 
of  Henry  Lanchester. 

"No  other  man,"  said  more  than  one  spokesman 
for  the  President,  "in  the  face  of  the  corrupt  inter- 
ests and  the  self-protectionists,  could  have  pulled  it 
off." 

But  the  President  himself  was  of  a  very  different 
opinion.  "My  dear  fellow,"  he  was  reported  to  have 
said  to  one  who  congratulated  him  in  those  terms, 
"it  was  as  inevitable  as  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Next  chapter,  my  dear  man;  next 
chapter." 

And  the  quiet,  free  thought  of  his  country  reg- 
istered its  agreement. 

There  it  lay,  the  great  gun,  brought  into  inter- 
national position  in  the  first  week  in  April.  And 
other  weeks  began  to  pass  and  nothing  changed  upon 
the  face  of  the  world.  It  was  a  little  flat  after  so 
much  anticipation.  The  great  achievement  began  to 
shrink  to  the  size  of  a  pigeon-hole  in  the  foreign  of- 
fices concerned.  Presently  there  would  be  the  lightest 
coating  of  dust  upon  it.  A  little  bickering  even  be- 

36? 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

gan  over  an  Alaskan  railway  survey  across  a  bit  of 
British  Columbian  hinterland.  .  .  . 

Meanwhile  the  Secret  was  very  well  kept. 

That  little  coating  of  dust,  so  early,  so  premature, 
was  allowed  to  accumulate.  Certain  official  organs 
of  the  continent  of  Europe  were  permitted  to  re- 
joice in  the  strong  language  used  in  Vancouver  and 
Seattle  over  the  Alaskan  railway  dispute.  While  that 
teacup  was  seething,  a  distinguished  nobleman,  who 
had  in  his  despatch-box  the  credentials  of  an  envoy 
from  the  British  court,  arrived  in  Washington,  made 
communications  to  President  Lanchester  with  the 
general  purport  of  which  he  was  already  familiar, 
and  departed  without  provoking  any  particular  com- 
ment. The  newspaper  correspondents  put  the  distin- 
guished nobleman  down  to  oil  interests  in  Tampico. 
They  also  noted  that  the  President  and  his  daughter 
seemed  to  have  become,  of  late,  more  inseparable 
than  ever,  that  he  was  seldom  seen  anywhere  with- 
out Miss  Hilary  now. 

And  then,  one  morning,  without  a  word  of  warn- 
ing, the  world  at  large,  and  England  and  America 
at  home,  were  informed  by  authorized  communica- 
tion, issued  from  the  highest  quarters,  of  the  be- 
trothal of  King  Alfred  and  Hilary,  only  daughter  of 
Henry  Lanchester,  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America. 

For  a  day  it  was  unheard  of,  amazing,  impossible. 

368 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

A  plot — a  plot  of  Henry  Lanchester's — to  establish 
an  Anglo-American  dynasty;  a  strange,  most  doubt- 
ful act  of  kingly  derogation.  All  the  voices  of  reac- 
tion called  out  at  once  and  together,  there  and  here, 
here  and  there.  They  were  sharp,  sophisticated 
voices,  but  they  had  to  cry  very  loud  to  make  them- 
selves heard  above  the  wide  acclaiming  chorus  of  de- 
light that  took  no  thought  of  politics,  but  only  of 
the  drama  of  the  dear,  common  .heritage  playing 
about  two  who  were  high  and  beloved  among  their 
peoples.  Just  joy  it  was,  and  that  great  wisdom  of 
the  heart  that  will  prove  itself  master  of  destiny  in 
spite  of  all — just,  unconsidering  joy  that  set  Lon- 
doners dancing  in  Trafalgar  Square,  and  somebody 
ringing  that  old  bell  in  Philadelphia,  whose  notes 
carried  across  the  Revolution. 

And  it  was  remembered,  as  indeed  it  ought  to 
have  been,  how  Prince  Alfred  had  danced  with  his 
future  bride  at  a  June  ball  in  Washington  in  the 
uniform  of  that  unforgotten  regiment,  the  Royal 
Americans. 

Then,  when  the  tumult  a  little  subsided,  a  sober 
voice  here  and  there  said:  "Why  not?" 

And  a  little  later,  when  a  certain  far  rolling  in 
the  air  could  be  heard,  it  was  perceived  that  the  gun 
had  spoken  1 


CHAPTER   XXXVI 

IT  was  a  wonderful  night  at  sea,  still  and  soft 
and  starry.  The  engine  of  the  battleship 
Hengist  had  slowed  down  until  she  was 
moving  almost  imperceptibly.  The  lights  of  the 
rest  of  the  squadron,  spaced  behind,  seemed  not 
to  move  at  all.  At  the  end  of  a  favored  voy- 
age they  were  a  little  before  their  time.  The  ar- 
rival was  for  nine  o'clock  next  morning  at  South- 
ampton. 

The  Hengist  glittered  from  every  porthole,  a  levi- 
athan she  looked,  all  diamonds.  On  the  quarter- 
deck Admiral  Lord  John  Beresford,  in  command  of 
the  squadron,  explained  the  comparative  strength 
of  the  navies  of  China  and  Japan  to  the  Marquis  of 
Courthorpe,  the  King's  proxy.  In  the  cabin  Her 
Grace  the  Duchess  of  Dymchurch  and  Her  Grace 
the  Duchess  of  Cley,  ladies  of  the  bedchamber,  Gen- 
eral Otis,  G.  C.  M.  G.,  in  conduct  of  the  escort,  and 
an  aide-de-camp,  were  talking  of  the  match  as  if  they 
had  arranged  it. 

Up  from  the  hold  swung  xUggage  of  all  sorts  and 

3/0 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

sizes.  The  bluejackets,  piling  it  on  the  main  deck, 
came  and  went  in  procession. 

At  the  foot  of  the  companion,  Mrs.  Sattersby,  bed- 
chamber woman,  whispered  with  a  maid.  "She  is 
really  asleep?" 

The  maid  nodded.  "Peaceful  as  a  lamb,  ma'am. 
And  under  her  pillow  the  prayer  book  that  was  her 
mother's." 

They  looked  at  each  other  fixedly,  and  tears  came 
and  stood  in  the  eyes  of  the  bedchamber  woman  and 
the  maid. 

In  London  the  streets  were  packed  with  people 
out  to  look  at  the  decorations.  The  night  was  flower- 
like  there,  and  the  heart  of  that  old  cradle  of  the  race 
was  ever  so  stirred  to  romance.  The  King's  bride 
was  to  be  a  June  bride;  so  thousands  of  people 
thought  it  natural  to  wear  a  rose.  On  the  great  day, 
the  day  after  to-morrow,  everybody  would  wear 
one.  *^ 

All  tongues  were  engaged  upon  one  subject.  The 
policemen  on  point  duty,  if  they  had  listened,  would 
have  heard  many  things  dropped  into  the  summer 
air. 

"She's  to  be  married  from  her  own  embassy.  The 
American  ambassador  is  to  give  her  away.  They 
say  the  pearls  the  people  of  the  United  States  gave 
her  are  the  absolute  pick  of  the  world.  Even  at  that 
they  couldn't  spend  the  money.  Thousands  and 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

thousands  go  to  the  International  Seamen's  Widows' 
and  Orphans'  Fund.  .  .  ." 

"Why  didn't  her  father  come?" 

"Oh,  well,  you  see  he  couldn't — any  more  than 
the  King  could  go  there.  There  are  reasons  for  all 
those  things.  The  President  did  come  a  little  way — 
in  a  battleship  with  a  squadron  to  escort  the  Hengist 
as  far  as  Sandy  Hook,  wasn't  it?  Then  she  left 
under  a  salute  to  the  British  squadron.  Rather  fine, 
just  for  a  girl.  .  .  ." 

"They  say  he  fell  in  love  with  her  last  year  at 
a  ball  in  Paris,"  a  girl  said. 

"Did  you  see  the  Times'  article?  It  was  headed, 
'The  Idyll  of  the  King.'  One  simply  felt  there  was 
nothing  more  to  say.  .  .  ." 

"The  Princess  Georgina  meets  her  at  the  sta- 
tion  " 

"And  he  at  the  garden  gate  of  the  palace — doesn't 
her — the  inside  one?  Oh,  yes,  as  private  as  it  can 
be." 

"Will  he  kiss  her?" 

"I  should  hardly  think  so.  Kings  and  queens 
don't  rush  into  each  other's  arms  like  ordinary 
people.  It's  a  political  marriage,  of  course.  Noth- 
ing else  would  justify  it.  .  .  ." 

Those  were  ladies. 

A  big  man  with  a  white  mustache  spoke  to  another 
on  the  steps  of  his  club,  saying,  "War  isn't  the  chief 

372 


:HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

menace.  We're  getting  together  to  tackle  our  own 
problems.  The  industrial  revolution  is  adjourned 
for  fifty  years" — and  he  went  on  about  his  business. 

Two  others,  held  up  at  a  crossing,  were  more  dis- 
cursive. 

"Wonderfully  little  fuss,"  said  one,  "wonderfully 
little  there's  been.  Thought  the  women,  at  least, 
would  have  been  up  in  arms — all  the  duchesses  want- 
ing to  scratch  her  eyes  out." 

"Two  of  them  have  gone  to  look  after  her." 

"Must  be  some  principle,  you  know,  underneath  it 
all,  unconsciously  recognized — some  principle  of 
political  gravitation." 

"When  you  think  of  it  in  those  terms  it  isn't  so 
odd.  The  King's  the  crystallization  of  the  political 
instinct  over  here.  Lanchester's  its  crystallization 
over  there.  That's  all  that  brings  the  crowd  out  to- 
night." 

"And  just  as  human  beings,  you  know,  they  ought 
to  bear  comparison  very  well.  The  President  has  got 
to  stand  for  the  American  ideal,  and  so  the  people 
make  him  of  their  best;  he  hasn't  really  much  rela- 
tion to  the  machine.  We  take  our  princes  as  they 
come  and  educate  'em;  the  Americans  pick  theirs  and 
elect  'em.  That's  all  the  difference." 

"A  sovereign  doesn't  marry  a  woman,"  said  the 
first,  lighting  a  cigar;  "he — marries — a  state.  King 
Alfred  might  have  married  Germany.  He  might 

373 


HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

have  married  Russia.  He  marries  America.  It's 
more  in  our  line — America." 

"All  the  same,  I  wonder  he  had  the  courage," 
said  the  other,  "considering  that  political  initiative 
isn't  exactly  among  our  virtues — or  Caversham  the 
common  sense." 

The  policeman  dropped  his  arm.  The  philoso- 
phers passed  on.  Their  homes  were  in  Addison 
Gardens. 

Abraham  Longworth  and  Arthur  Youghall,  walk- 
ing arm  in  arm  along  Piccadilly,  exchanged  the  last 
word  that  shall  be  reported. 

"No,"  Youghall  said,  "the  world  is  too  small  for 
new  races,  old  man.  You  can't  make  one  out  of  two 
hundred  years  and  a  few  flavorings  from  Europe. 
We're  one  lot  and,  please  God,  nothing  of  so  little 
consequence  as  a  form  of  government  shall  perma- 
nently divide  us,  or  our  inheritance." 

It  was  a  great  deal  for  Youghall  to  say  all  at  once. 
He  must  have  felt  it. 

"Even  so,"  said  Longworth.  "And  behold  we  are 
a  great  people,  for  we  do  as  we  like !  We  do  as  we 
daffodil  please;  and  then  it  is  sacred  and  splendid 
and  lasts  forever.  What  was  that  you  said  about  a 
Naturalization  Act?" 

"It  will  be  introduced  by  the  Government  before 
the  end  of  the  present  session,"  said  Youghall,  "to 
safeguard  the  succession — as  in  1706  for  a  lady  from 

374 


>HIS    ROYAL    HAPPINESS 

Hanover — in  order  to  insure  'that  the  said  Princess 
be  and  shall  be,  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes,  deemed, 
taken  and  esteemed  a  natural-born  subject  of  this 
Kingdom,  as  if  the  said  Princess  and  all  persons 
lineally  descending  from  her  had  been  born  within 
this  Realm  of  England,  any  Law,  Statute,  Matter  or 
Thing  whatever  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
And  she  is  a  Princess,"  added  Youghall. 

"She  is — a  princess  of  the  blood,"  Longworth  told 
him. 

And  these  faithful  fellows,  too,  passed  out  of 
earshot  into  the  indeterminate  crowd. 

Even  that  night  the  illuminations  were  magnificent. 
The  hotels  in  the  Strand  surpassed  themselves  as 
usual.  Behind  one  bright  window  stooped  a  robust 
but  somewhat  anxious  figure  over  a  suitcase,  smooth- 
ing out  its  wedding  garment.  Many  persons,  or  their 
valets,  may  have  been  occupied  in  the  same  way  in 
London  that  night,  but  few  with  a  better  right.  The 
figure  was  that  of  Dr.  Henry  P.  Atkinson  of  Pitts- 
burgh, and  the  large,  square  invitation  stuck  in  the 
looking  glass  was  addressed  to  him.  Doctor  Mor- 
row had  been  unable  to  come;  but  Doctor  Atkinson 
was  there,  athletic  as  ever,  and  going  on  to  a  Con- 
gress at  Berlin. 

"I  wonder,"  said  he  to  himself,  lifting  upon  the 
bed  a  shirt  that  had  been  done  up  in  New  York  at 
reckless  cost,  "if  old  Perry  will  be  there.  I'd  like 

375 


to  meet  old  Perry,  and  shake  him  by  the  hand,  and 
ask  him  what  he  thinks  of  British  monarchs  remade 
for  export  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

In  another  place,  Mrs.  James  Phipps  fluttered  and 
smiled,  and  remembered  and  wept ;  and  the  ex-Presi- 
dent expanded  a  little  as  he  thought  of  the  Hengist 
and  her  attendants  coming  into  port,  and  contracted 
a  little  as  he  thought  of  the  half-naturalized  vote  of 
the  state  of  New  York  and  the  chances 

"Three  years,"  he  said  very  privately  to  Mrs. 
Phipps  in  the  act  of  retiring;  "we've  got  three  years 
— and  that  ought  to  be  enough." 

"Enough  for  what?"  asked  his  wife. 

"Well,  my  dear,  enough  to  insure  the  permanent 
good  will  of  the  American  people  in  the  form  of  a 
vested  interest — perhaps  two  or  three  little  vested 
interests — in  this  throne  institution." 

"I  think,  James,  that  you  ought  to  be  a  little  more 
choice  in  your  language,"  said  dear  Mrs.  Phipps, 
"when  you  are  speaking  of  thrones!" 

Next  morning  the  international  festival  waxed 
high,  and  men  slapped  one  another  on  the  back  for 
no  better  reason  than  that  they  came  from  opposite 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Privileged  and  unprivileged, 
America  was  there  to  bring  her  daughter  and  re- 
joice. The  twined  flags  floated;  every  wind  brought 
the  music  of  one  nation  or  the  other. 

It  was  nine  o'clock  and  the  sun  was  shining;  half- 

376 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

past  nine  and  the  sun  was  shining;  ten  o'clock  and 
she  was  coming,  and  the  sun  still  shone. 

Far  down  Victoria  Street  the  multitude  saw  the 
first  sign  of  her  in  the  two  companies  that  marched 
before  her  carriage.  Very  well  set  up,  they  came  on, 
doing  her  honor  in  their  dark  green  uniforms,  the 
escort  the  King  had  sent  from  the  regiment  of 
his  own  choice,  to  bring  her  over  the  seas.  Very 
well  set  up  they  were,  and  thought,  no  doubt,  quite 
highly  of  themselves,  simple  men  of  the  Imperial 
Rifles,  stepping  well  and  proudly.  And  on  they  came 
with  their  colonel  at  their  head,  people  waiting  only 
till  they  should  pass,  when  there  came  a  voice  from 
the  multitude: 

"Three  cheers  for  the  Royal  Americans!" 

Then  a  great  roar  went  up  and  rolled  about  West- 
minster and  Whitehall,  which  was  heard  distinctly  in 
New  York,  in  Philadelphia,  and  even  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts.  And  with  it,  to  those  who  listened 
well,  came  the  sound  of  an  invisible  marching.  .  .  . 

And  through  the  midst  of  it  drove  a  pale  girl  with 
wonderful  dark  eyes,  sitting  beside  that  familiar  and 
beloved  figure,  the  Princess  Georgina,  just  look- 
ing and  timidly  smiling  at  the  people  that  were 
to  be  her  people,  while  the  Princess  bowed  and 
bowed.  .  .  . 

They  sat  together,  in  the  evening,  in  a  quiet  room 
of  the  Palace  where  their  high,  encroaching  world, 

377 


HIS    ROYAL     HAPPINESS 

with  all  its  exactions  and  instructions,  had  left  them 
for  a  little  with  friendliness  alone. 

There  she  sat,  so  unbelievably  near  him,  so  almost 
his  own — their  high  state  dissolved  into  that.  There 
were  roses  in  the  room,  and  a  green  twilight  from  the 
garden — all  that  seemed  to  matter.  She  had  come 
far  to  meet  him  there;  she  looked  perhaps  a  little 
tired. 

He  regarded  her  very  tenderly,  and  leaned  toward 
her,  and  took  her  hand,  and  stroked  it.  "The  Ab- 
bey is  a  beautiful  place,"  he  said;  "and  it  belongs  to 
us  all.  You  will  not  be  afraid,  my  dear  love — to- 
morrow." 

Hilary  smiled  upon  her  husband.  "I  know  it  is  a 
beautiful  place,"  she  said;  "and  I  know  I  shall  not 
be  afraid,  my  dear  love — to-morrow." 

The  King  kissed  her  hand. 


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